The Hour of The Wolf
by VVSINGOFTHECROSS
Summary: Robb Stark's twin brother Dareon, must pick up the pieces of his shattered family. After reclaiming the north for House Stark, defeating the Ironborn and the treacherous Boltons and Freys. Upon receiving a rather cryptic note Dareon makes way to the Vale, but what will he find there when all his family are dead?
1. Prologue

**Just to make clear before you start reading, Dareon Stark is Robb's twin brother he fought for Robb at Whispering Wood and during the relief effort at RiverRun. When word reached the King in the North of the Ironborn attacks further north, Robb sent his brother Dareon up north with 2000 men to relieve them. This Dareon managed to do by absolutely destroying the ironborn at Moat Catilin thanks to the Cranongmen's help also. They then marched on Deepwood Motte and destroyed the Ironborn there as well with Dareon defeating and killing Victarion Greyjoy. Dareon received a grievous injury during the battle and was unable to march to Torrhen's Square, and so it was at Deepwood Motte that he received news of the Red Wedding and the death of his brother and mother. As he was Robb's twin brother he was named his heir and successor by the remaining banner men. Of course Dareon soon recovered enough to reconquer Torrhen's Square from the Ironborn, then defeated a host led by Black Walder that was sent to capture it for the Boltons with Dareon killing Black Walder in the process. They then marched on Winterfell, where a frenetic battle ensured ending with both Ramsay Snow and Roose Bolton's deaths by Dareon Stark's hand. Stannis died during the first battle for Winterfell. And it is the days following the second battle that we join our characters. All of this belongs to George Martin I own nothing apart from Dareon and few other future characters. Enjoy :)**

**Prologue: Dareon**

**Winterfell**

_Still so much work to be done, those bastard Boltons burnt everything. I don't even know if we have enough stores for winter, for it is truly coming this time._

"Your Grace?" Dareon was taken from his thoughts by a tug on his sleeve by one of Lord Manderly's squires,

"Yes, what is it?" Dareon replied

"A letter arrived this morning; Lord Manderly said you'd want to see it." The boy replied rather timidly.

Dareon was still surprised by the effect being King had had on everyone, _was this how it was for you Robb? _But Dareon immediately shook himself away from those thoughts, and turned his attention back to the squire who was looking at him with something like fear in his eyes. "Well give it here then, and give Lord Manderly my thanks." Dareon replied curtly, before giving the squire a small smile.

As Dareon saw the squire run back to wherever Lord Manderly resided within the walls of Winterfell, Dareon turned his attention back to the note, wondering what on earth it could be about and who it could be from. He read it and read again, but it still seemed very cryptic, the message couldn't have been more confusing:

_As High as Honour, does the Eagle fly but the pack is broken and so now the second son is chosen._

The only decipherable part of the note was the words As High as Honour and Eagle, but that was only because they were the words and sigil oh House Arryn, but what did that have to do with him, and what was this whole business about a second son being chosen? With a shake of his head, Dareon put the confusing message back in his pocket and began walking round the grounds speaking to men and observing the reconstruction of Winterfell his home.


	2. The Stone Girl

**Chapter 1: The Stone Girl**

**The Vale**

After seeing Sweetrobin to bed**, **Alayne paced fervently in her room hoping against hope that Pe- no- her father returned back from his little sojourn to visit the Corborays. She had already gone against his wishes by writing that note, the one time he had found her writing something he had been furious, but not visibly furious instead he showed her, his fury in other ways that had left her feeling mentally and physically sick afterwards. She just hoped that the raven would leave the Gates of the Moon before he returned otherwise she dreaded the consequences.

But then why should she, she hadn't done anything wrong she'd merely sent a raven to a brother- no not her brother, Alayne doesn't have any siblings- and it wasn't like he'd be able to understand what it meant or who it was from, he'd never truly been the most observant of all of the Starks that had always been Bran but he was dead now just like everyone else.

She heard her father entering her rooms before she saw him.

"Oh dearest Alayne, I have returned." Her father said in his most cringe worthy and yet what he clearly felt was loving tone. "Where's my kiss sweetling, after all I have just been finalising arrangements for your upcoming nuptials."

"Oh father dearest that is lovely, when will they be?" replied Alayne as she tiptoed up to give Pe- no- her father a kiss on the cheek which once again, he turned into something more by kissing her full on the lips for longer than was appropriate. Alayne inwardly shuddered and felt like crying out, but suppressed the notion.

"Within the next two days sweetling, with Winter Coming as the Starks are wont to say it would be much better if you were to marry Harry sooner rather than later, that way it will be much easier to reveal to your true identity to these Vale Lords and have them bound by blood to help you reclaim what is truly yours from that false king who claims to be stark. Does that please you sweetling?" Was what her father replied with.

Upon hearing this new, Alayne suddenly felt like crying, she didn't want to marry Harry the Heir anymore than she'd wanted to marry Tyrion, but oh how she wanted to go home back to her real home and see whether the man pretending to be her brother truly was her brother. That's why she had sent the raven with that cryptic clue, in the hopes her brother would recognise the writing or at least the way it was phrased she clung to that hope like her life depended on it, because her life and her freedom truly depended upon it. She was shaken out of her thoughts by her father-no Peytr- gently touching her shoulder.

"Sweetling, are you ok? You seemed far away." He asked with what Sansa knew was apparent desire, and she inwardly shuddered again.

"Yes, I'm fine father sorry for not replying sooner I'm just so excited about the prospect of finally being married to Harry I can't seem to keep my mind off of him." Sansa replied with all the coyness she could muster when talking about that drunken fool Harry Hardying.

"Wonderful, in that case I do believe then that my plan was correct."

"Plan father?" Sansa was confused now what new plot was this?

"Yes dearest Sansa, Harry will be arriving tomorrow in the morn, and you are to wed and bed him by the evening, for we shall be sending ravens by tomorrow's nightfall declaring you the true Warden of the North and Lady of Winterfell and then you will get to return home."


	3. A Blind Girl Tells No Tales

**Chapter 2: A Blind Girl Tells No Tales**

**Bravos**

Winter had finally arrived in Bravos, about three months later than anywhere else both in Essos or Westeros and with it brought some of the most furious snow storms in living memory. Of course this was of little concern to blind Beth, the girl who wandered the docks during the day time and stole portions of people's food in the afternoon. For Beth something else had sparked her interest and made her continually visit the docks, news from the north of Westeros. According to the sailors, the Lannisters had failed to kill all the Starks and King Robb's twin brother Dareon had reclaimed his homeland and in doing so had killed half a dozen Ironborn, Freys and Boltons.

Beth wasn't sure why hearing this news always caused her to feel too happy inside it wasn't as if she knew any Dareon Stark and yet deep down in the part of her that was still Arya, she knew she truly did. These mixed feelings were only exacerbated when she found out that King Dareon was looking for his sister who he believed had found residence in Bravos and was offering some suitable trade deals for her safe passage home. Now Beth was in a predicament, she would have to go back and get her face back from the Kindly man, but she wasn't sure he'd agree to it all that easily.

Once Beth arrived back at the House of Black and White, the Kindly Man approached her and said "So Blind Beth what new things have you learnt today to come and share with us in this House of Knowledge?"

Beth replied "The First Sword of Bravos has spoken with one of King Stannis's men about possibly recruiting some good young men to fight for him in his war against the Lannisters. Also the King in the North Dareon Stark has reclaimed his homeland and is now looking for his sister Arya Stark who many had believed missing but Dareon has reason to believe is actually residing here in Bravos." Beth waited with bated breath to see what the kindly man would say.

"Hmm, these are indeed interesting developments... So you say that King Dareon is looking for his sister yes? Well I do believe endeavours should be made to make sure that she makes it back to Westeros in time."

Now Beth was confused, was the kindly man giving her leave to go?

"Do not look so confused child it ill suits you, yes you have heard me correctly for I have long known that this day would come, and is it not what you truly want in your heart of hearts Arya of House Stark."

He had her there, if he had simply said Blind Beth, she would have been able to deny it and say she knew what she was talking about, but know that he had used her name, her true name she realised she had to tell the complete truth otherwise she would never be allowed this opportunity again. "Yes" she whispered softly "Yes that is what I truly want."

"Good, you shall gather your things and your sword, and you shall make your way to the harbour and get on the ship of on Xaro Daxos who is heading to White Harbour."

As Arya scampered off away from the Kindly Man, and the door closed with a loud thump, her heart pounding in her ears she thought _I'm going home, at last I'm going home. _None of her earlier doubts over whether any of her family would accept her as she was now or for the things she'd done came to her now, simply the warm relief that soon she'd be back home in Winterfell with Dareon and that he'd look after her, he'd always said that he'd look after her.


	4. The King's Council

**Winterfell**

The council meeting had been going on for half the day now, Dareon had sat through countless hours of discussions of war tactics and whether or not it would be wise to march south again to try and reclaim the Riverlands. The problem about this strategy was that after the Red Wedding and the imprisonment of his uncle Edmure, all the riverlords had bent the knee to the Iron Throne and Dareon thought it unlikely that they would rise up against it again without their liege restored to Riverrun, which seemed nigh impossible with Emmon Frey's reign being backed by roughly 5000 Lannister men.

Just as he was about to call an end to the council so that he could go back to supervising the rebuilding, a hooded man stepped forward.

"Your Grace?"

_Oh what it could it be now, can't I be left in peace for once? No obviously not, might as well listen to what this man has to say, what could he say that could change the way this meeting's been going?_

_"_Yes what is it, and speak plainly and quickly!" Dareon replied more sharply than intended.

"I believe I have ample enough reason for you to want to and need to march south to the Riverlands again." The hooded man replied

When Dareon did not reply and simply kept looking at the man waiting for him to reply, he elaborated and said "I have it on good word that the Riverlords would be more than happy to bend the knee to you your grace."

Now Dareon was interested but was wary that he was being mocked, but before he could form a response Maege Mormont fired in a response "Oh and whose word would that be? Lannister Scum?"

This was met by lots of jeering and thumping of feet on stone, before Dareon's direwolf Artos yipped at the men to quiet.

The Hooded man seemed unperturbed by Artos or his yipping and merely continued "Yes, in fact House Blackwood as we speak is rallying the other riverlords to your cause, and is also planning to overthrow Emmon Frey from his seat in Riverrun."

Now Dareon was even more wary but also excited, caution however dictated his response was guarded "And how would you know this exactly my man?"

It was then that the hooded man lowered his hood to shocked gasps and whispers in the Great Hall.

Edmure Tully replied "Why nephew because I have been organising it all since after that thrice damned wedding at the Twins!"

Now Dareon was stunned, the last he'd heard his uncle had been bounded and chained and sent on his way to Casterly Rock with his wife after the siege of Riverrun had been lifted. Dareon had heard no word of his escape, and now had a thousand and one different questions running through his head the first of which his uncle answered without him even needing to ask.

"I had helped escaping; it seems not all westermen are without honour dear nephew. Addam Marbrand helped me escape after he heard the fate of the Westerlings at the hand of the Mad Queen; we rode as fast as we could from where we were to House Blackwood's seat and found them more than compliant to help us."

Whilst Dareon was relieved that his Uncle had escaped, he was wary about the fact that a Lannister bannerman had helped his uncle escape, he worried that this might be even more Lannister trickery. His uncle must have seen the doubt on his face for when he next spoke it was as an assurance

"Trust me your grace, Addam will not betray us, he swore himself to my service in front of the seven, even he has more honour to break such a holy vow."

Dareon was not entirely convinced but he let the matter drop for now, instead he turned his attention to the more pressing matter at hand "If you managed to escape, then did Jeyne manage to escape and if so where is she?"

At the mention of Jeyne, Dareon noticed that his uncle's eyes seemed to cloud over with what looked like sadness: "Yes she escaped with help from my uncle; they went to Greywater Watch where Jeyne died giving birth to a baby girl. Once we had reached the agreement I sent around 500 men at arms to help escort the babe with Lord and Lady Reed to Raventree, then made my way north and here I am. So if you are willing to do some more fighting then the Riverlands are yours and you will be able to better ensure the safety of your niece."

Upon hearing this Dareon felt a mixture of sadness and joy, he felt bitterly sad that Jeyne had died and that his niece would grow up never knowing her mother, but at the same time he felt joy at the fact that he could bring her back north to where she belonged. However, he felt a slight pang that in order to ensure his niece's safety he would have to go to war once again, and add even more blood to his hands.

Finally he asked the council at large their thoughts on the matter; they unanimously agreed that it was right for Dareon to march to war again if it meant ensuring his niece's safety and securing the future of the north.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Bellowed Mors Umber "Let's show these southron bastards how mighty the North truly is!"

This declaration was meant with echoing declarations and shouts of approval and many a shout of "THE KING IN THE NORTH!"

Dareon simply acknowledged all of the furore with a wave of his hand, inside though he felt a gnawing worry Rickon was meant to be coming back home in a moons turn he'd now have to stop that from happening Rickon would be happier and safer in White Harbour, he was also wondered if those men he'd sent to Bravos had found Arya yet, true it had only been a few days since he'd sent them but he still felt anxious not hearing from them.


	5. Griffin Lord

**Storm's End**

Jon Connington Hand of the King, Lord of Griffins Roost sat in the "Lord's Solar" in Storm's End thinking. The battle (if that's what it could be called) for control of Storm's End had been a mighty sight easier than he'd first thought, in fact the fighting only lasted a few hours before the last of Stannis Baratheon's men Ser Matthew Estermont surrendered. The fact that they'd taken the mighty Baratheon stronghold with only 200 losses was a might feat and something that hadn't escaped the notice of the men fighting for Aegon; they'd spent the last few hours celebrating in the great hall. Aegon himself had retired to his chambers for some well deserved rest, any fear Jon had harboured about allowing Aegon to lead the attack had quickly disappeared after he'd seen the boy in action, Jon thought not for the first time that the boy was so like Rhaegar in almost everything he did, he was as good if not better than Rhaegar had been at the same age.

But no that was not where the main focus of Jon Connington's thoughts were they were thinking over the letter that Maester Sareys, the Maester at Griffin's Roost had sent to him informing him of the Dornish retinue led by Princess Arianne Martell that was heading this way to speak with himself and Aegon. Jon did not doubt that they were coming to first see whether or not this truly was Aegon, and he hoped and prayed that once they'd had their doubts soothed the Dornish arms they so desperately needed if they were take King's Landing would be theirs if Varys' letter was anything to go by they would need to take King's Landing soon before the "Queen's" trial.

The latter part of Varys' letter was also of concern for Jon, Varys wrote that his "little birds" reported that the north had stirred again, and that the "King in the North" Dareon Stark was marching south to reclaim the Riverlands as well as look for his missing sister Sansa, who Varys had heard tell was in confinement in the Vale at the behest of someone called Petyr Baelish

Jon was no fool he knew what it would mean for all their carefully laid plans unless they allied themselves with the North. The only question was would the Stark boy see reason and ally himself and the north with his rightful king or would he be swayed by power lust that had ultimately led to his twin's murder at the so called "Red Wedding." Varys had suggested that one sure fire way to ensure the boy's loyalty would be to deliver his sister to him, however, Jon was wary of having any personal and direct dealings with the Starks especially after what that northern harlot had caused to happen all those years ago.

Jon decided there was little point brooding over such issues now, he would need to discuss it with Aegon on the morn, so now he decided to go to bed. As he walked past the chambers where Aegon was sleeping (not the Lord's chambers incidentally, Jon noted) he nodded to Ser Rolly who was standing guard outside the King's room, any doubts Jon had had about Rolly and they had been few to begin with had been immediately dissolved by his performance the fight today. Not once did he allow anyone to so much as touch Aegon and that was for good as there had been many people who had tried to strike him when he'd been fighting someone else. As Jon got undressed he looked at his hand to see the rot slowly making its way down his hand, soon he would be unable to wield a sword properly, he desperately prayed to the seven to give him enough strength to last until he saw Aegon sit the Iron Throne and maybe to see him have his first child. As he got into bed and closed his eyes, the sound of bells which had so haunted his sleep for the past few years seemed to be lessening.

Jon Connington went to sleep with a small smile on his lips.


	6. The Bold

**Meeren **

Barristan Selmy stood on the rampant of the main wall that had protected Meeren from the combined forces of Yunkai and Astapor during the battle of Slaver's Bay. The fact that that the battle had raged for days and was in fact still raging did not escape his notice, but he had been given a small respite from all the carnage to reflect on how things had progressed.

They had come in the dead of night with a slight horn blast, the combined forces of both Yunkai and Astapor numbering some 30,000 men including marched and fell upon the gates of Meeren to be met by a 20,000 strong force of brazen beasts, Unsullied and the Tattered Prince's company. The battle had seemed lost when on the third day Lhazaro one of the boys Barristan had been training as a knight pointed out ships on the horizon with what looked like squids- Barristan knew them to be kraken- on their sales. The Ironborn had landed on shore of Slaver's Bay and had immediately began to ransack and kill Yunkai's forces Barristan had never truly been so relieved to see the Ironborn as he had been in that moment.

The feeling lasted but for a brief moment when he felt a bone chilling blast come from somewhere out on the shoreline, and spied a man in red robes standing next to a man with a patch covering one eye, and Barristan's heart had plummeted. For if the Crow's Eye was here it could only mean more bad tidings for the rest of them. However, his fears had proved unwarranted as suddenly he saw Viserion emerge from wherever he had been during the battle and bathed both the red robed man and the Crow's Eye in flame, and had then flown back to wherever he had made his resting place. Once the smoke had cleared both the red robed man and the Crow's Eye were dead, but so too it appeared were the remaining Ironborn's spirits for the remaining forces scattered and ran back to their ships.

But just as it seemed that they would leave their remaining ships were destroyed by canning blasts and further horn blowing which announced the arrival of the Volanteene fleet coming in aid of the Yunkai forces. Barristan now felt that they were lost, he felt like he was at the Trident all over again watching Prince Rhaegar fall down to his death throes at the hand Robert Baratheon.

He felt truly useless then in that moment, was he doomed to constantly fail to serve and protect the family he had sworn his vows to all those years ago.

It was in the middle of this deep dark spiral that Lhazaro tugged on Barristan's shoulder and point upwards and said "Look ser, look! A big shadow has covered the sun!"

And Barristan looked upward and could not believe how their luck had improved for up there towering above the Volanteene fleet was Drogon and his mother Danaerys. They were saved!


	7. Mother of Dragons

**Somewhere in the desert outside Meeren**

Danaerys Targaryen was tired, so very tired. Since her escape from confinement in Khal Jhogo's Khalasar she had been walking along a desert road to gods alone knew where and she so desperately wanted to sleep. But with Drogon out hunting sleep was not a viable option instead she had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and hope she didn't die of starvation or thirst before Drogon returned.

The escape from Khal Jhogo had been easy, all she had needed to was seduce him and then slit his throat before he had his way with her, she still felt slightly repulsed by how cold blooded she had seemed in that moment, but she reassured herself, she was blood of the dragon she needed to stamp out those who threatened her person.

The visions had occurred on the first day after her escape, visited by a man who looked so much like her but was clearly not instead she knew him from the stories Viserys had told her in her childhood. Aegon the Conqueror stood proud and smiling as he spoke to his descendant "You have done well Khaleesi, but you still have some way to go the Iron Throne must be won by conquest you must leave Meeren soon for one of the blood still remains and needs your help."

The vision had gone before she could reply, but then on the second day of her travails another figure had appeared this vision was female, Rhaenrya spoke in commanding tones "Danaerys you have done so well, we are all so proud of you! But do not forget the true goal; the Iron Throne must be reclaimed from the Usurpers!"

She too had faded before Danaerys could form a response. So it was no surprise to her when a third vision appeared to her on the third day since her escape. This vision however caught Danaerys breathless. Her brother Rhaegar stood before her in all his glory with a sad smile on his lips and when he spoke sounded so sad "Sister, we are all so proud of you for doing what you have done. Forgive me, forgive all of us for leaving you here on your own, I know it cannot have been easy for you, but there is hope yet one of us still lives and breathes in Westeros you must go to him for he will surely need your help."

Danaerys was getting tired of listening to these ghosts telling her what to do so she snapped and said "Yes yes all this talk about helping one of the blood, yet where was my help when I needed it, where was my guidance?! And who is this one in Westeros you speak of I am the last remaining dragon!"

Rhaegar simply said "My son."

"Your son? But Aegon was killed!"

"No dearest sister, he lives, he is at Storm's End now gathering troops for his forthcoming invasion of King's Landing. He needs you more than ever now, you must return to Meeren and you must leave for Storm's End immediately or else the conquest will never be successful and we will never regain what was taken. Please Danaerys, please!"

Rhaegar faded from her vision, only to be replaced by a vision of young man pacing in what could only be a Lord's solar, and he looked so like her he truly did!

"Lord Connington?"

"Yes Your Grace?"

"Prepare the troops, we march on Dragonstone tomorrow."

"Are you sure that is wise Your Grace?"

"Yes of course, it is my family's ancestral seat after all."

As the vision faded from view, Drogon landed in front of her. Hopping onto his back Danaerys flew away she knew where she needed to be now.


	8. Kissed By Fire

**The Bloody Gate**

Come to the kitchens after dinner.

The message had been delivered to Sansa by one of the servants after Petyr had left her chambers. She felt a mixture of emotions battling for supremacy inside of her. She felt curious as to who could be behind this cryptic message, but she also felt fear. Fear that this could be another trap, after all the last time she had received such a cryptic note had been in Kingslanding and instead of it leading her to safety it had led to more months of captivity. So Sansa felt justified in being very sceptical of whether or not to "go to the kitchens after dinner." However, there was a small voice inside her, that was putting together all the pieces of information Petyr had let slip when he had visited her chambers earlier in the day. Her brother (for she was now truly convinced it was her brother) was marching for the Riverlands with a strong host behind his back and was looking for her!

So it was with this in mind that Sansa walked into dinner feeling slightly more hopeful than she had after Petyr had made his rather sudden announcement earlier that evening. Dinner itself was a rather boring and subdued affair, it was just herself and Petyr, she had put Sweetrobin to bed. Thinking about Sweetrobin made her wonder if this was truly a liberation attempt set up by her brother would she be allowed to take Sweetrobin with her, after all she knew that Petyr was poisoning his food and drink.

After she had been allowed to leave Petyr's Solar after dinner she made her way down to kitchens, followed of course by Lucas and Lamond, two guards who Petyr had assigned to "protect her" they had been in his service for a few days before both pledged their undying loyalty to her after hearing her muffled cries at the hands of Petyr rather more forceful exertions one day.

The kitchens were fairly deserted but for three hooded figures standing at the end of the main hall, Sansa's suspicions were increasing as were her fear was this to be a trap?

Then the first figure lowered their hood and Sansa nearly stopped dead in her tracks, for it was Lord Bronze Yohn Royce standing before her, he spoke quietly and quickly "Ah Alayne, or should I Sansa? I was beginning to worry you wouldn't come."

"My lord, h- how did you know I was here?"

"My dear, I knew both your Lord Father and Lady Mother as a youngster. Baelish may be smart thinking dying your hair would fool all of us, but I knew what to look for and my suspicions were only confirmed when he let slip in planning your betrothal to young Harry."

"But then why didn't you speak to me sooner my lord why wait till the day before my upcoming nuptials?"

"Because, I had a great deal of planning to do and I didn't want to scare you away or for Baelish to find out before everything could come together."

Sansa was incredibly wary now "Come together my lord? What plan are you speaking of?"

"Why your escape of course!"

"Escape?" Sansa was battling to control the sudden burst of hope that was threatening to overwhelm her.

"Why yes, surely you don't wish to stay here and be married to that idiot Harry do you?"

"No but how do you plan for me to escape, will you be accompanying me?"

"No my plan involves me staying here, but these two here will be." At this Lord Royce indicated to the two still hooded figures to his right and left, who both promptly removed their hoods.

"Lady Sansa, may I present you Ser Brynden the Blackfish Tully and Galbert Glover. These are two of my most trusted confidants and will see you safely back to your brother in one peace."

Sansa didn't quite know what to say, she could feel the feeling of hope and freedom finally approaching but didn't want it to be squashed again, and so said "My Lord that is most good of you, but how do I know that you are not in league with Lord Baelish and that this not some plot to further ensnare me?"

At that Lord Royce seemed genuinely affronted as he said next "My lady let me assure you that this is no trap, Lord Tully and Glover are two of your brother's most trusted advisors and soldiers, they themselves volunteered for this plan when I wrote to Greywater Watch two moons ago. I would not wish to do my dear friend Ned's daughter harm, nor would I wish to do my King's sister any harm."

Sansa was surprised, had she heard him correctly? "Your King my lord?"

"Yes, the Vale has stayed out of engagements for far too long, I am giving you a letter to give to your brother when you see him, assuring him of the vale's fealty with signatures from all the Lords Declarant. I have already sent a raven to him, informing of where you shall be."

"And where is that my Lord?"

"There are three horses waiting outside as we speak. You shall ride for The Saltpans as quickly as possible."

At that Sansa's heart leapt for joy, she felt she was finally being let go and was being allowed to leave her captivity.

"Thank you my Lord, thank you so much."

"Go quickly my lady, before Baelish's dogs find you."

As Sansa hurried out of the kitchen, with her two companions for the journey and got onto her horse, she finally allowed herself to hope. She was finally going to be allowed freedom, she would soon see her brother again after what felt like years, she was going home!


	9. Homeward Bound

**Somewhere in the Shimmering Sea Near White Harbour**

Arya felt cold, so very cold. The words of her house seemed to have rung true in the months since she'd been away from Westeros. She could see the snow falling even if she couldn't touch it yet. It made her heart ache, to know that she was so close and yet still so far away from White Harbour, and Winterfell her home.

Finding the ship to take her back home had been easy enough, she'd found the men her brother had sent to find her near the port and had looked straight into the eyes of someone she'd thought she'd never see again Gendry.

He'd seen her and been just as dumbfounded to see her "Arry?"

"No stupid, its Arya, what are you doing in Bravos? I thought you were with the Brotherhood?"

"I was but then I left after Lady St-"

"After what Gendry?"

"No it doesn't matter. All that matters now is that we've found you and you can go home!"

Arya didn't want to let the subject drop, but one quick look at Gendry told her, she wouldn't be getting any answers from him, she could tell he was hiding something but what it was she didn't know.

"Well get on the ship Arya, we're going back now."

"We, who do you mean, who else is here?"

"Why the men from White Harbour and some men from Winterfell, quickly now the ship's about to go!"

With that Arya had hurried onto the ship, which she noticed had the Grey Direwolf sigil of her house on it.

That had been five days ago now, and Arya hadn't seen or spoken to Gendry since then, whenever she tried to speak to him he ignored her or walked away, she didn't understand why he was doing it, he was being stupid. As were all the other people on the ship who kept bowing to her as she walked past, calling her princess, she'd half a mind to tell them to stop calling her that when she remembered that Robb had been a King, and so now was Dareon.

"My lady?" Arya's thoughts were interrupted by a small voice behind her, it was one of the handmaids she'd been given by Lord Manderly upon entering the ship.

"Yes, Wylla, what is it?" Arya thought it strange that her handmaiden had the same name as the woman who Ned had told her was Jon's mother, could this be the woman?

"My Lord Manderly, instructed me to tell you that we'll be in White Harbour by nightfall."

"Ok thank you, you may go." Arya thought it would be better to ask the lady when they were on land where no one could openly question her, that was the one thing that her time in Bravos had taught her, only your instincts could be trusted to keep you alive, and right now her instincts were on edge, she was near home and yet she felt trouble was brewing in the near future she just couldn't tell what.


	10. Questions and Answers

**Raventree Hall, The Riverlands**

Dareon sat at the high table in Raventree Hall the seat of House Blackwood deep in thought. The past few days had been chaotic and had stirred a mixture of emotions within him. The combined Northern and Riverland forces measuring in at 35,000 had crushed the remaining Lannister and Frey forces at the Red Fork, Emmon Frey and Lord Bracken were both killed, not a single soldier on the Lannister side was left alive, the Riverlands belonged to the Kingdom of the North once again and yet Dareon could not find it in himself to share in his Lords' and men's' joy.

For him the battle had been one he'd had to fight, not out of any sense of purpose but because he just had to. Unlike Robb, he was not fighting for justice, that had been gotten when the Boltons had been put to the sword, true he had been fighting to secure his niece's kingdom to ensure she could grow up in a peaceful land, and yet when he had returned the maester had informed him his niece had caught the flu and had died. Dareon had not exactly known how to react to that piece of news, he no longer felt like he had any tears left to cry, they'd all been shed first when father had died, then when he heard about Robb and mother's deaths. Robb's death had hurt the most though, without his twin Dareon felt empty so very empty, it was like a part of his whole being was missing and no matter how many battles he fought and no matter the fact that Rickon was alive and safe and that Arya was also back and safe, without Robb there to share in his achievements it almost didn't seem to matter. Dareon felt bad about feeling like that, he knew it was not the right thing to think when Winter had finally come and his people truly needed him now more than ever especially with what Jon had written to him about from the wall.

With that thought Dareon read through Jon's letter once again just to make sure he had read correctly:

**Dear Dareon,**

**I hope that this letter finds you in good health.**

**No doubt you heard about the attempt on my life by my fellow brothers, but somehow despite severe stab wounds I survived. I had the most curious of dreams during my time sidelined from main duty, something to do with a tower and a lady who looked so much like Arya, it hurts and something about a promise and a child.**

**Anyway enough about my non-sensical dreams. I am writing to you to appeal for help and assistance, the Nights watch is struggling to deal with an ancient foe, a foe so ancient that they have been incorporated into stories. Remember the stories that Old Nan used to tell us about the Long Night and the others? Well they aren't stories the others are real, and they are coming south with haste, we just managed to prevent a breach of wights (that's living dead people!) from crossing. We are deeply in need of aid and supplies. So as your brother and as Lord Commander of the Nights Watch I am begging you to come to our aid before it's too late.**

**Yours Faithfully**

**Lord Commander Jon Snow**

Dareon had no idea what to make his brother's letter, but he did know not to question what it said, that was something he had learnt to do over time, especially as he had found that the saying his parents had been fond of saying seemed to hold some merit "Dark Wings, Dark Words."

If the watch needed his help, then it was his duty as King in The North and Lord of Winterfell to ensure they had this help. This was why he decided to summon Lord Umber.

"Your Grace? Lord Umber is here to see you."

"Very good send him in."

The Greatjon Umber cut an impressive and intimidating figure at over six feet tall and with a hulking frame to match, but there was no doubting his loyalty to the Starks whatsoever which was why Dareon felt he could trust him to lead the first round of northern forces to the Wall.

"Lord Umber, I have a request to make of you, if you would be so willing."

"It would be my honour Your Grace, what can I be of assistance with?"

"My brother, the Lord Commander of the Nights Watch has written to me requesting aid to fight a millennia old foe, not the wildlings but something much more sinister and more deadly. I need you to lead a force of men say about 20,000 men up north to the wall to assist them fight this threat. The rest of the forces will join your men after we have made a trip to the Saltpans. Do you agree?"

"Of course Your Grace. Just one question, which is this deadly foe that we are required to fight if it is not the Wildlings?"

"You have heard of the Long Night My Lord?"

"Of course, but surely that is just a child's tale?"

"No my lord far from it, it is slowly becoming true again, the foe we go to fight is the same foe that our ancestors fought millennia a go."

"Are you sure of this your grace?"

"As sure as I have been of anything Lord Umber."

"Then I will gladly go and crush these scumbags, who dare threaten our homes."

"Good, you will leave at first light tomorrow."

With that discussion done, Dareon dismissed Lord Umber from the hall, and began re-reading the second letter which he had been presented with upon his return from the battlefield that morning.

**Your Grace,**

**You may not know who I am, but I was a close friend with both you father and mother whilst they lived.**

**I write to inform you that, I have after much hard work managed to locate and find your sister Sansa, the scoundrel Lord Baelish had hid her amongst us here in the Vale. Needless to say that upon finding her, I managed to talk with her and she is now on her way to the Saltpans, she should be there within two days of you receiving this raven.**

**I wish to inform you that the Lords Declarant of the Vale wish to pledge fealty to you and to be incorporated into your domain and Kingdom, we have been out of this war for far too long and it shames me to think so.**

**I hope that this is enough for you to accept that the Vale is truly sincere in its wish to help the Starks and Winterfell gain justice once and for all.**

**Yours Faithfully,**

**Lord Bronze Yohn Royce.**

**Lord Protector of the Vale.**

This second letter had sent tingles up Dareon's skin, the very fact that this man had found Sansa and had decided not to send her back to King's Landing but to send her on her way back to him, made him feel very happy and indebted to Lord Royce. The pledge of fealty to him also presented Dareon with a good source of men to send to the wall to help fight with the Nights Watch. He had to ensure that Sansa was definitely going to be at the Saltpans when he go there so he stopped the maester and asked "Maester, when did this letter arrive precisely was it today or yesterday or earlier?"

The maester paused for a minute, before saying "Your Grace, both letters arrived yesterday whilst you were out on the field."

Dareon briefed a sigh of relief; he could get to the Saltpans within two days if he rode hard enough and ensure that he and Sansa got there at roughly the same time. "Thank you maester, if you could take these three letters I've written and send them out at once, I would be very thankful." Dareon upon receiving the letters had read them and then written out responses, one to send to the Wall informing Jon of the incoming northern force which would help him, till Dareon could send more men, another was to Bronze Yohn thanking him for everything and asking if he could send as many men to the wall to help the fight there, the third and final letter was to the Saltpans to inform them of his arrival in a few days and to make the appropriate preparations.

The Maester took the three letters from Dareon's outstretched hand and said "Of course Your Grace. Will there be anything more?"

Dareon paused for a minute then said "No nothing more thank you, go and get some rest after those letters are sent. Thank You."

Once the maester had left the hall, Dareon sagged back in his chair and let out yet another sigh. The pack was nearly complete, Sansa was coming home. He would get her, then march north, then to the wall.

Outside the halls of Raventree Hall, snow was falling onto the ground in steady drifts... Winter had truly come.


	11. Return to Westeros

**Meeren**

Battle for Meeren had ended rather suddenly once Queen Danaerys had returned on the back of the great black colossus that had become Drogon, burning the majority of the Volanteene fleet as well as the forces of Yunkai and Astapor to cinders, leaving her the undisputed leader and winner.

Ser Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of her grace's Queensguard had stood steadfast and silent behind her as she had passed judgement on her husband Hizdhar Loraq having him executed for plotting her death, he had also stood in silence as he watched her pass judgement on the Green Grace who Loraq and the Brazen Beasts had confirmed as being the Harpy, seeing the Green Grace die by dragon's fire was a terrifying site even if it was justified.

Next Ser Barristan had stood and watched as his queen had welcomed Daario Naharis back into the fold, with nothing more than a sweet smile, Ser Barristan felt proud of Danaerys at that moment, for it seemed that she had truly put behind some of the more childish dreams she had held before her flight. Danaerys had also welcomed Tyrion Lannister into her group of advisors, speaking with him about the current political climate within Westeros, the Imp had deigned to agree with Danaerys that now was the perfect time to launch an attack on the Kingdoms what with them being so bitterly divided.

Ser Barristan had also seen a more forgiving side to his queen as she had beheld a rather battered and bruised Jorah Mormont and had found it within her heart to forgive him and allow him back into her service, on the condition that should he ever betray her again he would become Drogon's next meal.

After the day's council business was done Ser Barristan had plucked up the courage to ask Danaerys about her sudden change of heart and desire to go to Westeros.

Her reply had completely caught him off guard.

"I wish to return because my nephew needs me."

"Nephew your grace?"

"Yes my nephew, Prince Aegon will need my help if he is to reclaim what was stolen from us."

Barristan was shocked, Prince Aegon had been killed all those years ago his head had been a barely recognisable shape when presented to Robert Baratheon.

"Your Grace, how do you know this? Prince Aegon has been dead for the past 17 years, how is it possible that he somehow survived?"

To this his queen had simply looked at him and said "I know not how he survived, but I know he does, and until we are together sitting on the Iron Throne I will not rest."

The tone with which Danaerys had said that final statement brooked no argument, Ser Barristan only hoped her faith was not misplaced.

"Of course your grace. When would you like for us to depart?"

"On the morn, prepare the men and the ships, we are going home."

Of course your grace."

After that Ser Barristan had left his queen's chambers and had made his way to speak to Ser Jorah to tell him about the plans for tomorrow. As he walked to find Ser Jorah he could not help but think of Aegon's Conquest three hundred years ago, the Targaryens were returning to Westeros and bringing with them their house words... Fire and Blood.


	12. Sansa's Return

**Near the Saltpans**

They were close to the Saltpans the seat of House Cox, so close in fact that Sansa could see the Direwolf banner of her house flying proudly along with House Cox's own banner upon the tower walls. Sansa's great uncle Brynden had informed her of how her brother Dareon had reclaimed the north and the Riverlands from the Lannisters in such a way that Sansa felt a swell of pride in her chest for her brother.

Their trip down from the Bloody Gate had been without incident, though Sansa could not help but feel nervous thinking about her reunion with Dareon, would he still be happy to see her or would he feel angry at her, this fear stemmed from the fact that she had written that letter to Robb, saying father was a traitor and would he please bend the knee, true she had been forced to write it but she still felt horrible for it.

She was taken out of her thoughts by a gentle touch on her wrist by Ser Brynden when he said " My lady, we have arrived."

Sansa knew she was a different person to the one who had left Winterfell all those years ago , her only hope was that Dareon would be able to accept her as she was.


	13. Fire and Blood Part 1

**Storms End**

Jon Connington sat in the sept in Storms End, watching as the boy who had come to him as 5 year old in Pentos, draped a red and black cloak around his aunt, and smiled. Aegon had become a man right before his eyes, and he felt proud of him. Danaerys had arrived at Storms End a week ago, with her dragons as well as her army of unsullied and sellswords, any tension Jon had felt about Danaerys possibly rejecting Aegon had been put to rest when she had embraced him and had looked at him with what Jon thought was a mixture of love and awe.

They were granted a boon in the fact that both Aegon and Danaerys seemed to have taken to each other almost immediately, in fact so quickly did their relationship develop during the week that Danaerys had been at Storms End that Jon could have sworn that this wedding had become more than just one of convenience for the both of them and rather one that they both truly wanted.

Jon knew that know that Danaerys was here, both she and Aegon would be keen to march on Kingslanding immediately but a raven had arrived in the morning from Lord Tyrell, pledging his fealty to his rightful king and queen, but also proposing a second marriage between his daughter and Aegon. Jon had been very bemused by the raven, they had heard of course of the accusations that had been levelled against her by the Lannister woman, and of course she had been cleared of all charges by the Faith. Aegon had been slightly more infuriated by the raven, Jon thought that it was quite good that Aegon had not immediately jumped at the opportunity, but then of course they had been reminded by Danaerys that she could not bear children and that perhaps it would be wise to accept Mace Tyrell's offer.

The fact that Danaerys could not bear children had been a very very big worry for Jon, but with the offer from Mace it did seem to be a practical solution to the problem, Danaerys had managed to persuade Aegon to see it as such as well by telling him rather softly that they need not tell the Tyrells about her condition at all if that was what it would take to make Aegon more compliant.

Ultimately Aegon had caved in and agreed. Mace Tyrell's raven had said that they would be in the Saltpans for his son and heir' Willas's marriage to Sansa Stark, therefore Jon had with Aegon and Danaerys's consent decided that they would take some of the Targaryen forces up north with them to the Saltpans for Aegon's marriage, and also to get the Stark boy Dareon to bend the knee as well.

The only slight worry that Jon had had in the past two weeks was the fact that Danaerys had said that Quentyn Martell had died whilst staying with her in Meeren, according to Danaerys he had tried to tame one of her dragons and had been roasted alive for his efforts. Danaerys had seemed truly sorry for Quentyn's death and had even written a letter and sent it to Prince Doran assuring of this, and had received one in return assuring her that it was ok and that he didnot blame her and that Dorne's forces were still at their disposal. Jon suspected that had more to do with Aegon being Elia's son than anything else as he had noticed that the Dornish contingent that had arrived with Princess Arianne had stayed away from Danaerys after she had told them of Arianne's brother's death.

Jon was taken out of his reverie by a large cheer that went up in the sept, and looked up to see Aegon and Danaerys kissing and then walking back down the aisle. Jon saw Aegon flash him a very big smile as he walked down the aisle, Jon managed to return it though once Aegon had passed it turned into a grimace the greyscale was slowly creeping up his body.

He only hoped that he could stay well long enough to see Aegon and Danaerys take Kings Landing and their throne soon so that the Bells in his head would finally stop, they had after all been lessening since the capture of Storm's End and Danaerys Arrival.


	14. Fire and Blood Part 2

**The Saltpans**

As Jon Connington watched his king place a red and black cloak around Margery Tyrell, replacing the green and gold one that had just moments before rested on her shoulders, he could not help but think of the last Targaryen King who had had more than one wife: Maegor the Cruel had had multiple wives but had been unable to produce an heir from any of them, With Danaerys being barren, the hopes and future of the Targaryen dynasty rested on Margery Tyrell's quaint little shoulders, it was Jon thought a huge burden to carry, one which she and the rest of her family did not know about of course, Jon did not wish for and the Imp had agreed, that it would be best if Aegon and Danaerys were seen to be the ones offering a service to the Tyrells and not the other way around.

Of course Jon could not shake of the little saying that now hung around Margery "Wife to three kings, mother to none." Of course that now became four kings, but for the sake of everything Jon hope that the saying would change to mother to one.

Jon could tell Aegon was getting restless, just by looking at the way his hands kept moving and his fingers were tracing a ghost of an arc round Margery's hand, of course they both seemed besotted with each other. The Targaryen camp had arrived at the Saltpans a week and a half ago and in that time it seemed that both Aegon and Danaerys had become quite good friends with Margery, her brother Willas and Willas's wife Sansa, who of course was sister to the "King in The North" Dareon "The Redwolf" Stark. The Redwolf reminded Jon of his father Eddard Stark in that he always seemed to be very solemn and hardly seemed to smile, though Jon had taken note of the smile he had worn when his bride, someone called Melissa from House Melcolm from the Vale had walked down the aisle of the Sept towards him.

Both Aegon and Dareon had spent the time that Aegon had been at the Saltpans looking at each other and sizing each other up, as if both were trying to assess whether the other deserved to wear a crown. Dareon had said that he would bend the knee after he had defeated whatever it was that was troubling the people up north, he had also had the audacity to ask for Targaryen assistance.

Aegon had looked like he was going to agree, but Jon had quickly put an end to that by saying "With all due respect your grace, the Targaryen forces are needed down south, once we have conquered Kings Landing and settled the King and his Wives we will then send forces to assist you."

Dareon had looked like he was about to argue but a touch on his arm from his little wife, and he had merely nodded.

The power that a woman's touch had over such powerful and imposing men had always left Jon confused and a little bit surprised. Although as he looked across at Lady Lemore, he felt that he could sort of understand why this was, though such thoughts were chased away by the cheering that greeted Aegon, Margery and Danaerys' walk down the aisle of the sept, all together in the holiest of matrimonies.

Jon smiled as they walked past, and thought with the combined forces of the Reach, Dorne and the Stormlands plus Danaerys' unsullied and the Dragons, they truly were going to be bringing Fire and Blood to the Lannisters. As Jon looked at his hand – the one which had the rapidly growing greyscale- he could see victory insight, it was so close he could almost taste it. As he got up to join the others in leaving the sept, he offered a quick prayer to the Seven that he would be able to live through at least until Aegon was crowned in Kings Landing.


	15. The Redwolf

**The Saltpans**

Dareon Stark sat at the high table at House Cox's hall in the Saltpans, during his, his sister and Margery Tyrell's wedding feast. For the first time in a long while, Dareon couldn't stop himself from breaking out into a huge grin every time he looked to his right and saw his beautiful wife Melissa.

The circumstances under which the two of them had met had been less than happy, Dareon remembered it well for it had only been five weeks ago. After he had arrived at The Saltpans and had met Sansa, and had held her in such a tight embrace he felt like she possibly would have broken had he held on for much longer, he had been greeted by a letter from Lord Royce asking for help protecting the Bloody Gate by Lannister forces who had been sent from King's Landing to pillage and burn the Vale. Dareon had had to leave that day after reassuring Sansa he would return, and had marched with the 15,000 men who had accompanied him from Raventree Hall to the Bloody Gate in the Vale, where a bloody battle ensured, many men were killed in the fighting and Dareon bloodied his sword many a time, one of his many victims included Ser Devan Lannister who had led the pillaging.

After victory had been ensured Dareon had had to stay for another two weeks to help with the recovery effort as well as to sit in judgement over one Lord Baelish. When Lord Baelish's crimes had been read out at the trial, Dareon's skin had crawled and when it had been properly announced that Lord Baelish would be put to death through "flying" from the Moon Door, the man had looked at Dareon and said "Your mother never loved your father, she always belonged to me, she was my Cat."

Seven guards had had to physically restrain Dareon as he had gotten out of his chair and had made to kill Baelish then and there instead, he'd had to settle for saying "My mother only loved my father Baelish you little shit, she never loved you and I hope you rot in the deepest of the seven hells you cur!"

Baelish had merely smirked at that response, before being thrown out the moon door. After Baelish's trial and death, Dareon had spent some time conversing with the Lords Declarant and had managed to persuade them to send an army of 25,000 men north to the wall to help Jon in his fight against the others. Dareon had first noticed Melissa, on the day of Baelish's trial, a tall and slightly pale girl, with dark brown hair and green eyes, her eyes had met his from across the room and she had blushed the cutest shade of pink.

Now Dareon had never had much luck with girls back at Winterfell, that had been more Theon and Robb's area of specialty, but he had been surprised by how quickly he and Melissa had moved from being friends to being more than that in the two weeks that he was at the Vale, the kisses they shared took and continued to take his breath away. He found out that her father and the rest of her family had been killed by the Lannister raiding party, and that Melissa's way of thanking him for killing the Lannisters responsible was to take his manhood in her mouth, he had been so caught up in the throes of passion and want for her he didn't even remember the words coming out of his lips "Marry me!" He was startled by the abruptness of the way he had said it, and immediately blushed with embarrassment, but had been even more surprised when she had looked at him, smiled and said yes and then kissed him so hard it took his breath away.

Dareon had confirmed the betrothal with Lord Royce before he marched back to the Saltpans with his remaining men, and when he had returned he found that he was not the only one to be besotted. He had been aware that Willas and Margery Tyrell would be coming to the Saltpans to pay a visit to Sansa, (more appropriately, Lord Tyrell had proposed a betrothal between Willas and Sansa, but Dareon hadn't had time to tell Sansa this.) But he was still surprised by how quickly both of them had taken to each other, Willas seemed to have taken Sansa completely out of her shell, and judging from what she had briefly told Dareon about her time in King's Landing and the Vale that was no mean feat. Dareon liked Willas a great deal, he liked the fact that Willas was smart but didn't boast about it, but most of all Dareon liked the fact that Willas made Sansa smile, and that he genuinely seemed to care about her and wasn't trying to use her. Something that Willas had been quick to reassure Dareon of, when he had cornered him just before his father and other family arrived.

Dareon hadn't really had the time or the patience to get to know Margery, she seemed like a nice girl, and had looked after Sansa in King's Landing for which Dareon was grateful. Melissa had told Dareon that Margery was very funny and clever, and was also going to be getting married to Aegon Targaryen at the Saltpans the same time as them and Sansa and Willas. Dareon had been slightly taken aback by this, but judging from what both Sansa and Melissa had told him, Margery wanted to be queen.

When Aegon had arrived, Dareon was wary of him, he seemed to be able to charm whoever he spoke to and yet Dareon couldn't help think that he was a bit of a pompous twat. When Aegon had demanded that Dareon bend the knee, Dareon had been tempted to challenge him to a duel to see if he truly was capable of leading men but then thought back to what Willas, Melissa and Margery had said to him the day before "Tell him you will bend the knee after he has sent aid to the Wall and victory has been confirmed." When he had repeated these words, he knew he had won Aegon over but of course Jon Connington his hand had been more reserved and had said such help would come after King's Landing had fallen.

Dareon was shaken out of his reverie by a loud drunken shout from Harrion Karstark "Enough talking, let's get on with the beddings!" A declaration which was met with raucous approval throughout the hall. Dareon turned and looked to see Willas and Sansa being lifted up high into the air by members of the reach and the north, saw Aegon and Margery being lifted up as well, and then saw Melissa and felt him being lifted up as well.

The way to the chambers with which both he and Melissa would be sharing was brightened by lots of drunken catcalls and whistling by the women who had proceeded to remove every piece of clothing he had till he was thrown into the bedroom with only his small clothes to preserve his dignity.

He got up of the floor to find Melissa already in bed looking at him with one of those piercing gazes that took his breath away, and when she spoke her words oozed with seduction and lust and want, and Dareon found himself kissing her senseless before he even remembered moving.

In between kisses, they managed to speak albeit breathlessly

"My lady... you... look ...ravishing"

"Why ... thank ...you"

Dareon, realised that he was now on top of her, and began grinding his hips in time to their kisses which elicited a groan from her, as she proceeded to do the same, his fingers trailed down her body, until they found her sex, "Gods Melissa, you're so wet, is that all for me?"

"Y-yes, all for you, please Dareon, don't tease me, do it!"

Dareon obliged and stuck a finger in, then out again eliciting another groan from Melissa, he could feel his length hard against her, and when she undid the laces to his breeches and guided him into her, he began pumping at a furious pace, eliciting even more groans, moans and screams of pleasure from his wife, as he peppered her mouth, her neck and her body with kisses, he could feel himself reaching climax. And when he finally came, so did she, moaning her name into her hair, he rolled of her, and turned to look at her and simply admired her beauty. For the first time in a long time Dareon felt happy.


	16. Winter Rose

**The Saltpans**

As the rays of light began to push their way through the curtains, Sansa opened one eye rather shyly. She was a married lady now, and for once the thought did not fill her with dread. True she had been married once before to Tyrion, and had been betrothed to Joffrey, but whilst her marriage to Tyrion had been rather short lived, and she had been informed by Lord Tyrell that the High Septon had annulled it, her betrothal to Joffrey had started off well and she had truly thought that she might have actually found her knight from the songs, but it had quickly gone south. No, as she opened bother her eyes and looked at the figure of Willas Tyrell, still asleep next to her, Sansa truly felt happy and content, and as she thought back to the night before, she blushed furiously as she remembered what she and Willas had done together that had made her whole body shake with desire, and even now thinking about it made her quiver with want.

She was taken out of her reverie when she heard a knock on the door,

"Just a moment."

As Sansa put on a robe to cover herself, and opened the door she found herself face to face with her brother Dareon, who was already dressed in his armour and was wearing his crown.

"Just thought I'd come and wake up the two lovebirds, before I departed." Dareon said with a wolfish smile following soon after.

"You're going so soon?" Sansa knew Dareon would have to leave soon after the wedding but she didn't think it would be so soon.

"Well yes, I mean the Others aren't going to kill themselves you know, and besides I'm getting bored cooped up here and I miss Arya and Rickon."

At the mention of Arya and Rickon, Sansa's heart dropped, she hadn't seen either in years now and would most likely not be able to see them again until after the war was over, which could take a good few years.

Dareon sensing Sansa's disquiet, said "Don't worry San, I'll kill these treacherous Wight walker bastards and then we can have a huge family reunion up in Winterfell, but remember to tell your darling husband if he ever harms you I'll spear him!"

Sansa, had to fight the urge to laugh at that, instead she merely hit Dareon playfully on the shoulder and said "Shouldn't you be going back to your wife now? You've done your duty, I'll see you off again properly before you go, now leave me and my husband alone!"

"Yes dearest sister." With that Dareon did a mock bow and left.

With that Sansa, turned round to see Willas was up and was looking at her with those rather cute brown eyes of his, in such an intense gaze it made her blush.

"Was that you brother sweetling?"

"Yes my lord, he was just coming to say good bye before he headed north."

"Sansa, how many times must I tell you to call me Willas, it is only fair! And if your brother is getting ready to leave then we must indeed see him off, come my Winter Rose."

Sansa blushed again, and thought that maybe just maybe she could have found her prince charming in Willas.


	17. Storm Of Kings Landing

**The Lion Road, outside Kings Landing**

Jon Connington surveyed his surroundings and felt reassured. They had marched from the Saltpans three weeks ago and had arrived outside Kings Landing two days ago, camping outside the "Lion Gate." The combined Targaryen forces numbered 150,000 reports from their scouts said that the capital was defended by only 2000 men, but the Mad Queen Cersei Lannister refused to surrender.

Connington snorted at the thought of Cersei Lannister proving any threat, from what Varys's letter had said all of her actions since her father's death had managed to push the rest of Westeros away from their "King" and into the arms of whoever promised a better alternative. First had been the mess that had come with the Westerlings execution from allowing their daughter the Young Wolf's wife to escape from Riverrun, their execution had caused uproar and discontent within the Westerlands. Then after her monster champing Robert Strong had slain her cousin Lancel Lannister who had been acting as the faith's champion during her trial to prove her innocence, the Lannisters of Lannisport had been added to the list of discontented nobles in the Westerlands. Then had come the juiciest bit of news that Jon had heard since he learnt of Robert Baratheon's death, the Kingslayer Jamie Lannister had been killed fighting someone called Brienne of Tarth, according to Varys's letter this news along with the deliverance of her twin's body had caused the mad queen to have the men who had delivered the news and the body executed, and to order a small contingent of men off to Tarth to "destroy" the rest of the family. The High Septon, who Jon learnt had been in Varys's pocked from the beginning had ordered another trial, and this time the Hound Sandor Clegane had been presented as the Faith's champion and even he had been unable to stand against the "might" of Robert Strong, and had been slain, but not before taking Robert Strong's Left arm and leg.

The presence of this Robert Strong worried Jon, but that was a thought for another time, as he heard the sound of a horn being blown from their side of the camp, and the answering sound of a horn from the city said battle was beginning. Jon looked around for Aegon and found him already mounted on his horse Danaerys riding her Silver next to him, they had agreed after much persuasion on Aegon's part to leave the dragons away from battle unless absolutely necessary, Danaerys had already managed to lose one of her dragons, who had flown north with the Stark boy, Jon had no idea how truly stable Danaerys might prove to be.

But such thoughts were shaken from his mind when he found himself moving and already mounted on his horse, they were galloping down the road to answer the treacherous Lannister curs once and for all.

The first crash of Jon's sword on another man's sword saw said man who Jon noted was dressed in Lannister colours fall down dead at his feet, he saw another man fall down dead at Aegon's hand.

The battle went like this for another three hours, with men in Lannister red and gold of the city watch fell down dead at their feet. Jon noted how easily Aegon managed to cut down men who stood in his path, ably protected by Ser Rolly and Ser Loras.

Jon had to divert his attention back to the man in front of him when he felt a sword just narrowly miss his head, looking up he saw himself face to face with the dangerous and ominous Ser Robert Strong, the man had culled atleast twenty men to get to Jon it seemed, and Jon knew that the man would not rest till he had killed Aegon and so Jon decided to engage him in battle.

His first thrust met with the edge of Robert's armour and Robert's return saw Jon's horse killed, and an injury to Jon's shoulder. Jon however, managed to swipe at Robert's right leg connecting with it and seeing the foot disconnect from the leg, but no cry of pain from the owner.

Jon managed to hall himself up and he and Robert continued to parry blows for what seemed an age, both made sizeable cuts to one another's bodies and arms, but whereas Jon knew he was beginning to lose his strength and could already feel his grip in conscience loosening Robert didn't seem to be losing any strength whatsoever and seemed like he could continue forever, after ducking another one of Robert's swipes, Jon looked round and was relieved to see Aegon far away from Robert and Jon, killing yet another Lannister man.

Jon just managed to block Robert's downward strike with his sword, before feeling his head begin to feel lighter and lighter, and knew that he wouldn't be able to last much longer, and so when Robert moved his sword upward to strike again, Jon seized his opportunity and stabbed his sword right into the middle of Robert's huge chest, where his heart should be. Jon felt Robert stiffen in front of him before feeling his huge gloved and spiked hand connect with Jon's head loosening Jon's grip on his sword and forcing him to fall backward. Jon knew then that either he would die know or Aegon would be finished, as the world began to grown dark around him Jon felt a sudden heat and managed just to look up and see Robert on fire, and felt he must have seen wrong for they had agreed not to use the dragons unless everything was going wrong, and Jon knew Danaerys didn't value his life that badly to put her dragons at risk.

But then the world went black, and Jon Connington's head hit the ground.


	18. The Final Countdown

** This Chapter occurs the same time as the battle for KingsLanding. Thanks for all the follows and everything. Feel free to review and let me know what you think :)**

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**The Wall**

Jon sat in the Lord Commander's solar in Castle Black brooding. Since his dramatic rebirth three moons ago things had gone from bad to worse at the Wall. After he had been stabbed and unceremoniously "killed" by his sworn brothers, he had spent the time inside of Ghost, how he had managed to survive in Ghost he had no idea, but it was during this time that he'd started seeing things that had severly unnerved him. Whilst in Ghost he'd somehow managed to go to the wolfswood next to Winterfell and had witnessed both battles for his home, the first one had been confirmation of what the Bastard of Bolton's letter had said about Stannis being dead, after all Ghost had seen his head mounted upon a spike. The second battle had been the hardest for Jon, he'd seen his brother Dareon kill so many men and when he'd struck the killing blow through Roose Bolton the man who had betrayed Robb, Dareon's wolf Artos and Ghost had let loose the most bone chilling howl possible.

It was then that he had first started having the visions of a tower and a woman who looked so much like Arya and himself that it hurt, he kept seeing her fleeing from Winterfell with a silver haired prince, and giving birth in the tower. But every time Jon tried to see what the baby looked like the vision would stop. It was very confusing for Jon when he had resided within Ghost but even more confusing once he had been "reborn."

His rebirth had also been far from painless, in fact Jon later learnt that in order to bring him back Melisandre had sacrificed Stannis's wife Lady Selyse, and the terrifying thing for Jon was that he had seen this all occur through Ghost's eyes, and had seen how utterly scared Shireen had been as she watched her mother burn and the fact that Stannis's men did nothing to stop Melisandre or even prevent Shireen from watching horrified Jon. He had had no way to protest though for the minute Ghost had started to growl had seen Jon ripped from Ghost's body and brought up panting for air in his own body completely bare in the flames.

To this day Jon had no idea how he had managed to survive, but every time he had tried to ask Melisandre she had simply bowed her head and said "It is not for me to question the ways of R'hollr, you grace." When Jon had told her that he was not a prince nor a king she had replied "Why of course you are, I have been a fool for so long thinking Stannis was the one, but no now I truly understand why my fires kept showing me you every time I asked for Azor Azahi. Yours is the song of ice and fire my prince, do not fight it."

Jon had tried protesting but after Melisandre had said those accursed words everyone had been treating him differently, they all bowed their heads or when they did look at him it was with a mixture of awe and fear. Even his own sworn brothers had become more deferential toward him. Well almost everyone had become deferential to him apart from Val, she seemed to be the only one who treated him the same and for that he was grateful. Though the more he thought about it the more Jon felt sure that something had changed between him and Val, and if their last conversation the night before was an indication of anything it could only bode badly for Jon for he had broken his vows once before and reborn or not he couldn't afford to do so again.

Jon had been relieved when he'd received his brother's raven explaining everything that was happening in the rest of Westeros, as well as the 20,000 men he had sent with the Greatjon Umber and the promise that the combined forces of the North, the Riverlands and the Vale would soon be joining him up at the wall to fight the deadly foe. Dareon had also said that both Rickon- Jon had had to read that part thrice through to make sure- and Arya-the real Arya, no Bolton's Arya who had turned out to be Jeyne Poole- were in White Harbour for the time being, and that he was going to look for Sansa in the border between the Riverlands and the Vale. Jon sincerely hoped that his brother had found Sansa, and yearned for the time when they could all be reunited.

That time seemed to be getting further and further away, for the day the Greatjon and his men had arrived had been the day the Others had finally attacked with a huge army of wights. They had continued to attack every day since then and the only time that the brothers and the Wildlings had any down time was in the few hours of daylight that there now were. Thousands and thousands had been killed on both sides, including senior sworn brothers such as Bowen Marsh, Dennis Mallister and Cotter Pyke. Jon had thought it one of the best suggestions made by one of Stannis's men when they had suggested taking Lady Shireen to White Harbour and away from the carnage, Jon had immediately agreed and had over ruled Melisandre's protests that for them to succeed they needed one of the royal blood in the fires.

Jon had simply said through gritted teeth that he was not, nor would he ever be a child killer and damn R'hollr and the Others to the seven hells if they would make him become one.

Jon was shaken out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Come in." He said dreading what news whoever it was could be bringing.

"Milord." It was Satin his Steward

"Yes Satin what is it?"

"The Brother's on the wall heard a horn milord."

"A horn? One of our horns? We haven't sent a ranging out in a moon."

"Yes milord, that's what they said but then the horn sounded again and I swear milord when I heard it, it didn't sound like any horn I'd ever heard before. The Wildlings began to look like they'd shit themselves and kept saying something about the Horn of Winter."

Jon felt his heart begin to plummet, the Horn of Winter if that what it truly was would be their downfall, the Wildlings hadn't found it but if the Others had then the only way to combat it was with the Horn of Dawn, and Jon had come to realise that the horn he had given to Sam was that horn.

"Milord?"

Jon was just about to speak when he heard a horn blast again, and Satin was correct, this was no ordinary horn blast this one sounded ancient and primeval, Jon could feel some deep rooted fear emerging from inside him.

He ran out of his solar and down the stairs with Satin hot on his heels, all the while barking orders at the men and women outside to get back in to safety and when he looked up at the Wall, he saw it beginning to break apart, massive chunks of ice collapsing impaling the sworn brothers who had fallen of it.

The Wall was falling, the Battle for the Dawn had truly begun.


	19. The Watcher

**Somewhere beyond the wall**

_Darkness and clouds, that's all that he seemed to be able see these days since Jojen had perished when the wights had come through the defences at the top of the cave. The Children had protected himself, the three eyed crow and Meera, but Jojen had been killed._

_Darkness and clouds and the wall falling, and a deep dark creature awakening from a ten thousand year slumber, a creature so powerful and so evil he shook simply thinking about it._

_And the weapon left to destroy this creature once and for all was somewhere near here but where he couldn't tell even the three eyed crow had been unable to tell him._

_Then the vision of his bastard brother Jon Snow came to him, Jon Snow with a the sword meant to destroy the creature, plunging the sword into a fiery woman, Jon Snow with the Stark look but with fiery features._

_The words of a long uttered promise on the wind_

_"Promise me Ned."_

_The crying of a babe and fourteen years of suspicion as to the truth, he had finally found it._

In a cave somewhere far beyond the wall Bran Stark awoke from his dream with the truth.


	20. Reunion

**Near the Twins**

Dareon had been very young when the last winter had ended, as he looked at the snow lying on the ground in front of his horse he wondered if that winter had been as ferocious as this one seemed to be. Snow had been coming down from the heavens for weeks now, but Dareon kept his troops going not only because he knew that if they stopped they'd never make it through again but because his wife was pregnant. They'd found this out when Melissa had furiously thrown up just after they had left the Saltpans, Dareon had decided then after the maester who was travelling with them that she was pregnant, that she would ride in the carriage whether she wanted to or not he couldn't risk her or the baby to the cold.

Whilst they were going slower than Dareon would have liked, they were still going quicker than expected and he could see the Twins looming in the foreground, Dareon had to constantly remind himself that there was no one there for him to kill anymore, on the march down he had seen to Lord Frey and all those other treacherous weasel looking bastards apart from Olyvar and the women and children. He'd made Olyvar Lord of the Crossing.

Dareon had sent a raven ahead of their departure to both Riverrun and the Twins informing them of the situation at the wall and to raise their troops ready to meet him at the Twins for the march north.

Dareon was shaken out of his reverie by seeing a person standing in front of his horse that he hadn't seen since he was fourteen.

"Harwin?!" He asked incredulously

"Yes milord, its me"

"What are you doing here? I thought the Lannisters killed you?"

"Nope milord, but that is a story for another day, if you would follow me, there's someone who wishes to speak to you."

Dareon was suspicious now "Someone wants to meet me? Who Harwin, its not some Lannister spy is it?"

Harwin looked sincere when he replied "No milord on my life its no Lannister, please milord you must come with me."

Dareon turned around and seeing that he was way in front of the others decided perhaps against his better judgement to trust Harwin. Dismounted from his horse and followed Harwin through several rows of trees deep into the forest and into a clearing where several figures stood looking at him, one with a hood over their head.

"Where are I Harwin and what is this place?"

It was not Harwin who replied but a slightly plump and balding man who did "Your Grace, you are in the camp of the Brotherhood without Banners."

Dareon was shocked, he'd heard the Brotherhood had disbanded after Lord Beric's final death, only to be restored when one Lady Stoneheart had taken charge, Dareon had heard horrifying rumours about her and who she used to be.

"And why does the Brotherhood wish to speak with me?"

"Because Your Grace, our lady wishes to speak with you. My Lady."

At that the hooded figure removed her hood and as it fell from her face, Dareon's mouth opened in shock, horror and recognition he was looking at Lady Stoneheart, but he was also looking at his mother!

"Mother, what w-hat?"

His mother pointed to her neck, and then to the sword that the plump man suddenly held then to Dareon. He didn't know what she wanted him to do.

The plump man noting Dareon's confusion, said "She wishes for you to have the sword Your Grace."

"The sword?" Dareon said confused, he was even more confused when the plump man moved away from him when he reached to get it from him.

"Yes Your Grace, for this sword is called Oathkeeper and is one of two swords forged from your family's ancestral blade Ice. Our Lady wishes for you to have it. But at a cost."

Dareon was dreading what this cost could be.

"You must take her life."

"HER LIFE?!" Dareon was horrified "But what has she done wrong?"

"Oh she doesn't want you to take it for the wrong she has done, but for the fact that the north and the riverlands belong to the Starks and the Tullys once more and that your family has been avenged."

Dareon felt helpless, he wanted to fight and argue he wanted to say that this plump man was wrong and stupid and he deserved to die, but one look at his mother's face told him that the man spoke no lies.

He sighed, "Very well, give me the sword."

As the plump man gave him the sword, he saw his mother move towards a block that he hadn't noticed before, he moved toward it as well.

With his voice thick with emotion he declared "I, Dareon of house Stark, the King in the North, the Riverlands and the Vale, hereby do sentence you Lady Stoneheart to death."

And with that he brought Oathkeeper down in one swift motion kept his eyes open for long enough to see his mother's head role to the ground, before walking away, Oathkeeper still in his hands.

Dareon walked blindly back to where he'd left his horse with tears clouding his vision and nearly walked straight into his uncle.

"Uncle Edmure? What are you doing here? I thought we were to meet at the Twins?"

His uncle looked relieved and surprised to see him, but immediately said "There's been a change of plan Your Grace. We received two ravens at the Twins this morn, one said that the Targaryen boy had captured King's Landing, the second said the Wall had fallen."

Dareon was stunned, the wall fallen?

"We must ride at once then, where is Lord Olyvar?"

"Already marching across the bridge with his men, we were waiting for you."

"Well we must go. Rally your men and I'll do the same for mine."

As Dareon saw his uncle run back to his men, he thought to himself, the Wall fallen, I executed my own mother today... Winter has truly come.


	21. Blood of the Dragon

**This chapter occurs three months after the last one, so it is roughly late December, 300 AL. Enjoy :)**

**Castle Black**

_It was so cold, so very cold. He couldn't understand how it could be so cold even with so many fires raging around him, but then he realised it was them that made it cold, those creatures with ice blue eyes and an army of wights. They had just managed to defeat one of the main creatures when another rose up from one of the many dead, he couldn't tell whether it was one of theirs or one of his men/ women, but before he had time to really get a look at the thing, it was up and lunging for him. He realised with a start that the Wight going for him was covered in fire, but that couldn't be right weren't wights meant to die by fire, how could this one possibly be surviving such an intense flame? Then it struck him this wasn't a Wight it was something more terrifying, he knew this thing and when it turned its head toward him its once violet eyes that had so reflected his own, were red with anger. Somewhere off in the distance a huge dragon breathed fire onto the armies of men and wights alike._

The dream changed now he was in King's Landing. He remembered the months following his ascension well. They had stormed the Red Keep only to find the Lannister boy and his mother lying dead on the floor in the throne room. Haldon had confirmed that they had died from poisoning, Tyrion had said that it was likely to be the work of the boy's mother, not wishing to watch her power visibly slip from her hands. Aegon had told Tyrion that he had permission to take his sister, nephew and brother back to Casterly Rock to have a proper burial.

He had then declared a four day period of mourning, for all the people who had died during the War of the Five Kings and the war that had just ended. That was when Danaerys and he had first fought. She had argued like a spoilt child, that why should they have to embrace a period of mourning when they had not lost anyone, it was these "foolish" others who had been stupid enough in the first place to remove their family from the throne, if anything they should be celebrating their victory. Aegon had patiently explained that they were still strangers in Westeros, and for support to truly build up after years of war they needed to show the people some respect and understanding, they couldn't just rely on their dragons and a reputation- that to be honest Aegon was tired of hearing about- to be able to ensure the loyalty of their new subjects.

The arguing between Aegon and Danaerys had continued after their coronation with Aegon's other bride Margery as King and Queens of Westeros. Margery had told both Aegon and Danaerys that she was with child, Aegon had been ecstatic he'd always wished to have children, and he found that he falling more and more in love with Margery by the day. Danaerys had of course been angry, she had fled from their rooms in Maegor's Holdfast, and when Aegon had gone to comfort her, he had found her becoming very intimate with Ser Mormont. Aegon hadn't been angry more worried, but when Danaerys had seen him, she had simply yelled at him that he was "being led around by his cock by the Tyrell's and that he wasn't really blood of the dragon only she was."

After that outburst Danaerys had avoided him and Margery, but Varys had come to Aegon and Jon one day after a small council session to tell them that his "little birds" had overheard Danaerys and Ser Mormont discussing things, and how best to feed the "rose" to the dragon. Aegon had been outraged at that, and against Jon's advise and confronted Danaerys about this. That had been one of the biggest arguments they had had, and a few days later Aegon found out just how horrible his aunt could truly be when angered.

Lord Tyrion, who was now Lord of Casterly Rock per Aegon's decree as King, had come rushing into his room when he was with Margery much to Aegon's annoyance. But seeing the evident panic etched on Tyrion's face Aegon had become worried, his worry had turned to downright anger when Tyrion had said that his presence was requested because "Danaerys had gone with Ser Jorah to the Dragonpit, and was using Drogon to burn and turn to ash the bodies of Tyrion's brother, sister and nephew."

Aegon accompanied by Ser Loras and Ser Barristan had rushed to the Dragonpit and had discovered to their horror that what Tyrion had said was true. Danaerys had indeed burnt Tyrion's relatives' bodies to ash using Drogon. Aegon had been horrified; this was a serious violation of every ounce of decency and would be sure to cost the Targaryens everything they had truly worked for. Aegon and Danaerys had argued long and hard about that action, Danaerys justifying it by saying that the Lannisters deserved this treatment for what they had done to their family, Aegon saying that whilst he too had wanted revenge on the family that had taken so much from him, this was not the way it should be done, this was in fact a betrayal of everything a King or Queen should do. Danaerys justification that Ser Jorah had told her that burning the bodies was the right thing to do had rapidly increased Aegon's anger. Both Ser Loras and Ser Daemon were required to hold Aegon back when he returned to the Red Keep and bumped into Ser Jorah.

Aegon was almost relieved when the raven had come from the North declaring Dareon Stark, Edmure Tully and Robert Arryn's oaths of fealty to the Iron Throne thus making Aegon King over Seven Kingdoms once again, thus ending the constant lectures and arguments that he had been having with everyone on his small council about the North's independency. When another raven arrived at King's Landing a few days after the first one, this time from the Wall saying that it had fallen Aegon knew something was terribly wrong, the wall didn't just fall, something must have forced it to fall. At first everyone on the small council had been willing to ignore the raven, Aegon had to admit that after years of war the last thing many of the men wanted to do was have to march all the way north to fight a foe that may according to the raven from Lord Snow be undefeatable. Aegon however, was not convinced and had begun his own discreet enquiries into these foes at the wall and had found that these things and their creatures could be killed by fire, valyrian and dragonsteel. Fire they had, the dragons were here for this reason, valyrian steel they had, Aegon himself having his family's ancestral sword Blackfyre (presented to him by Jon before they had attacked Storm's End), Aegon knew that there was some amount of dragonsteel on Dragonstone, Harry Strickland having written as much many moons prior. Aegon ordered ravens sent to Dragonstone that they send the dragonsteel to King's Landing to be forged into weapons. That had taken 2 weeks to happen, then another three for the dragonsteel to be ready in weapon form. Aegon had had 300,000 dragonsteel weapons made and had given 150,000 of the weapons to the soldiers present in King's landing the remaining 150,000 he ordered to be sent to the Wall by sea.

Everyone it seemed was ready to march north and fight these "undefeatable" foes at the wall, except for his aunt Danaerys. She had argued against it saying that their position in the realm was not secure enough for them to just leave the ruling of the Kingdoms to an "eunuch, an old lord and a fat man." Aegon's patience with Danaerys already very strained after her prior actions finally snapped, and he had finally said that "It didn't matter whether or not their position in the realm was secure at the moment, unless they went to aid the men at the wall it would never be secure, for men and their descendents would sneer at future Targaryens and accuse them of cowardice, for hiding behind the towering walls of the Red Keep with their Dragons whilst the rest of the realm bled and died for their protection."

This speech seemed to have finally seemed to have swayed Danaerys, and she had albeit reluctantly agreed to accompany the 70,000 Tyrell men who would be taking ships to Eastwatch By Sea, whilst Aegon would leave to join them a week later with the remaining 70,000 men part of the Targaryen forces. 10,000 Tyrell men would be left behind along with Ser Daemon Sand of the Kingsguard to help protect the city and guard Queen Margery. That had reminded Aegon that he would need to fill the other four vacant positions of his Kingsguard once this war was over, the remaining members of Tommem Waters' Kingsguard having been killed during the fighting outside Kings Landing.

Aegon had arrived at Castle Black along with his aunt and 140,000 men and two of their dragons Drogon and Viserion, to discover the Castle in complete chaos, Rhaegal had arrived it seemed well ahead of them, and was making their house words come to life it seemed whilst being ridden by a man who it seemed looked very much like what Lady Lemore had described Eddard Stark looking like.

The Targaryen forces had it seemed been of some assistance in pushing backing the Others' for a long time, but no matter how hard they kept pushing the Others always seemed to return the next day or night with more force and undead things to help them. Morale was lowering and the scouts that had been sent during the days when all was quiet had never returned except for one, the party led by Tormund Giantsbane had returned to say something was marching south with thousands of wights at its heals.

Aegon awoke from his sleep to the sound of hornblasts three of them piercing the air in quick succession, followed by dragon bellows and an even more terrifying scream which seemed neither human nor dead. It seemed the true battle had begun.


	22. The Truth Revealed

**This chapter occurs five months after the last one, so it is roughly May , 301 AL. Enjoy :)**

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**Castle Black**

From where Jon sat in the Lord Commander's Solar in Castle Black, it looked like the Wall – what was left of it- was weeping. Jon thought that that was a rather fitting image, considering the state the Battle for the Dawn as this fight against the Others was now being called , was going. When the Targaryen forces had joined the forces of the North, The Riverlands and the Vale it seemed that the 300,000 men that had finally managed to assemble would be able to beat back and possibly defeat the others. This hope had been strengthened when Jon had seen that each of the Targaryen soldiers was armed with dragonsteel, the only sure way to prevent more wights from rising. However, it seemed any early advantages that the additional men had provided had soon abated, as no matter what was tried be it the use of dragonsteel or the Targaryen dragons- Jon had his own green and bronze dragon, how he still does not know-. No one truly seemed to be able to truly explain the continuous onslaught the Others and their undead soldiers seemed to be pursuing. That was until a ranging sent out with Tormund Giantsbane at its head had come back all pale faced as if he had seen more horror in one ranging than one could imagine, had reported that something had stirred it seemed from the Lands of Always Winter, in the very northern part of Westeros where no one had dared to venture for millennia. It seemed that the source of the Others had stirred and was on the move.

There was nothing they could do about that potential threat, except wait and see. In fact they had been doing a lot of waiting as of late, since welcoming in the new year with a rather subdued celebration, the men of Westeros had not truly seen any proper fighting for a moon's turn. This was truly worrying for Jon as it suggested that the Others would attack soon and when they did the attack may be the one that finally crushed the wall.

The only true source of good news that had reached Castle Black in months had arrived earlier that day. Jon's brother Dareon had received two ravens, one from Winterfell and one from Highgarden. The raven from Winterfell had spoke of how the castle's rebuilding had been complete, and how the citadel had sent one Maester Willem to be the new Maester at Winterfell. The raven also spoke about how Melissa, Dareon's wife had given birth to a healthy boy named Edwyn. The raven from Highgarden simply stated that Sansa had given birth to twins, boys called Leyton and Eddard. News of the newborn children had served to significantly improve the morale and mood of the men fighting for the North and the Reach, and gave them something to fight for, Jon also noted how Dareon seemed to have significantly perked up, upon learning that he was a father, it seemed to Jon that Dareon had a renewed sense of vigour and purposed and was determined to emerge alive from this conflict, whenever it ended. The men's morale had been boosted further when King Aegon had announced at lunch that his wife Margery had given birth to twins a boy called Maegon and a girl called Daenys.

Thinking about his nephews down south of the wall, Jon began pondering whether or not it could be possible now that he was no longer a bastard and no longer technically sworn to the Night's Watch, whether or not it would be sensible to ask Val to marry him. In the months following his death and resurrection, he had grown very, very close to her, she had even gone so far as to say that he, Jon Whitewolf (for that was the name he had chosen to bear, as Dareon had legitimised him), had stolen her all those moons ago, when Stannis had still been alive.

Jon was taken out of his reverie by a knock on the door.

"Come in."

As the door opened, Jon found himself looking at his brother and Lord Howland.

"Please take seat brother, Lord Howland. What can I do for you?"

"Jon, Lord Howland has something he wishes to speak to the both of us about."

"Very well."

As Jon looked at Lord Howland, waiting for him to begin speaking, he noticed that Howland seemed to be looking at Jon as if truly seeing him for the first time.

When he spoke, his voice had a slight sing song quality to it. "My Lords I trust you have heard of the events that occurred at the Tourney of Harrenhal, and how I came to meet your father and uncles and aunt."

Both Jon and Dareon nodded their heads-yes they had, any mention of the tourney though after they had first heard the story, had made lord Eddard's eyes go very mournful, so they had learned to not probe too much.

"Well at the tourney, there was a mystery knight called the Knight of the Laughing Tree, who unhorsed three Lords who were well known for their Tourney feats. Upon seeing this, King Aerys demanded that the mystery knight be brought before him to face trial, as the knight was no 'friend' of his. He sent his son Prince Rhaegar out to find this knight, but instead of finding a boy or a man, the prince found a young girl not much older than four and ten, it was the Lady Lyanna your aunt. Needless to say it seemed that the Prince was charmed by her actions and instead of presenting her to the King as was instructed, he crowned her the Queen of Love and Beauty the next day, creating all sorts of scandal and controversy."

Jon was wondering where this story was going, they had after all heard this story before, but before he could voice his thoughts Lord Howland continued.

"Now you may be wondering why I mentioned this, well as you know shortly after the tourney your aunt and Prince Rhaegar disappeared with each other, starting Robert's Rebellion. Now many believe that the Prince kidnapped Lady Lyanna, but that is not the case, your uncle Benjen was aware of the various letters that your aunt and the Prince had exchanged since Harrenhal, and helped the prince and your aunt leave together."

Now this did shock Jon, and as he turned to look at his brother he could see that it shocked Dareon as well! But Jon was still unsure where this was going, and was about to say as much when Lord Howland resumed speaking.

"Now as you know Robert defeated Prince Rhaegar on the Trident, and the rebel forces were successful in taking King's Landing. However, there was still the matter of rescuing Lady Lyanna from wherever it was the Prince had kept her. Your father, myself and four other men rode to the Tower of Joy in Dorne where we had been told she was being held. We were greeted by the sight of three of the finest knights the realm has ever seen, Ser Gerold Hightower, Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Oswell Whent. After much fighting your father and I were the only two of the nine men left alive. As we ran up the stairs to the room where your aunt was kept, we heard her anguished cries, and as Lord Eddard reached her he found her bleeding very badly, holding an infant to her breast, a boy to be precise. In her last few breaths she made Lord Eddard promise to protect and raise the boy as his own, as your father made his promise, Lady Lyanna passed on."

Jon looked up to see Lord Howland crying, but felt very shocked, his aunt had had a living breathing child! But then where was this child, what had his father done with the boy?

It was Dareon who voiced these thoughts first. "My Lord, what happened to the boy? Where did our father leave him?"

Lord Howland dried his eyes, and looked straight at Jon as he said "Your father Lord Dareon, brought the boy back with him to Winterfell where he grew up amongst Lord Eddard's children."

Jon was confused there had only ever been eight of them in Winterfell growing up, if what Lord Howland said was true then there should have been nine.

"But my lord surely you must be mistaken, for there were only ever eight of us growing up and I never remember seeing any Targaryen looking children running around Winterfell." Dareon said

Lord Howland had not taken his eyes of off Jon, and had a wry smile playing on his lips, and said "That was because there never was any need for nine, your aunt's son looked so much like your father Lord Dareon that he was able to blend in with Lord Eddard's children."

Something suddenly clicked into place in Jon's head, the strange dreams he'd been having of a Tower and a lady who looked so much like Arya dying, making a man who looked so much like his father, like him promise something. The fact that he was able to ride a dragon, the fact that he had emerged unscathed from his funeral pyre.

"Are you saying that I'm , that I'm,." Jon sputtered unable to fully form the words.

Lord Howland smiled. "Yes my lord, you are Lady Lyanna and Prince Rhaegar's son. Yours is the song of ice and fire."


	23. The White Sword

**Castle Black**

Ser Barristan Selmy heard the horn blast and mounted his horse. The Others and their army of wights, were back again for another round of fighting. Barristan tried not to despair at the thought of having to march out again not knowing whether or not he would live to see another day. True he had been in many battles, but that had been when he knew how to defeat his opponent, now he remained unsure and nervous.

As Ser Barristan surveyed his surroundings at Castle Black he saw that his King and Queen were already mounted on their dragons, as was Jon Whitewolf and all three were in the sky waiting for the signal. Barristan turned round and looked at his own men, he was leading a troop of 10,000 men and he prayed to the seven for the strength to see this night through.

As the horn was blown once again, Ser Barristan raised his hand and pointed forward and shouted "Charge!" And as one his troop and that of the rest of the forces of Westeros marched forward.

The first blow that Ser Barristan was to a wight that seemed to have been a giant before, Ser Barristan hacked the wight's legs of with his dragonsteel sword, and watched as the wight disintegrated. This process was repeated numerous times as Ser Barristan cut a bloody bath through the wights, all the while keeping an eye and an ear out for signs of how the rest of the men and his King and Queen were doing.

Ser Barristan heard a deafening howl from his right and turned to see a pale blue shape about eight feet tall wielding a great sword and riding a dead bear heading towards him, whilst cutting a bloody bath through the troop that Ser Barristan was leading.

He watched with morbid curiosity as the Other cut its way through toward him and watched with horror as the men within his troop fell down dead from the Other's touch as if they were nothing more than simple rag dolls.

The Other finally made it toward him and greeted him with a huge swipe which Ser Barristan just about managed to block with his sword. He then responded to the Other's swipe with one of his own which he noted with some satisfaction managed to dent the creature's armour causing it to cry out in pain.

However, his satisfaction was cut short when the creature mounted a furious assault on him, swinging its' sword furiously and so quickly that Barristan was beginning to struggle to bring his own sword up in time to block the creature's attacks.

They continued to exchange blows for what felt like hours, both managed to create dents in the other's armour, but neither seemed to be able to create any serious damage. Barristan noted with some surprise that this Other was not like the previous few that he had fought, it seemed that this one was more used to sword fighting and not for the first time Barristan wondered what exactly these creatures were and where they came from.

Barristan was knocked off his horse by the sheer force of the creature's next blow, and watched with fear as the creature proceeded to butcher his horse, and then eat it whole!

Barristan was rooted to the spot as he watched the creature swallow what had moments before been his horse whole and in one go, then was shaken back to reality when the creature's mount swiped a paw at him which he managed to deflect and cut off with a block from his sword, and noted that the beast almost instantly disintegrated once his sword came into contact with it.

Now Barristan and the Other were on level footing, Barristan blocked out the sound of men and wights and others fighting, dying and screaming, tried to slow his heart rate down and focus on the thing in front of him. Looking at the creature, Barristan guessed that it was one of the more senior figures in the Others' army; it certainly seemed to carry itself as such. Barristan guessed that if he could perhaps defeat this creature then perhaps they could try and learn more about it and its race, if not then he'd just have to kill it or die trying.

As with their first fight, the creature made the first move swinging its sword in a massive arc, which Barristan just managed to block. He replied by going for a series of quick jabs to the creature's stomach and chest, some of which connected with the thing's armour further denting it, some of which were blocked by the creature's sword. This process continued for much longer than Barristan expected and he began to feel his strength leaving him, he needed to end this now before he was killed and brought back as some mindless creature.

Mounting a furious thrust and parry on the creature, Barristan noted happily that the creature too seemed to be tiring, as more and more of Barristan's blows connected with its armour and he saw cracks beginning to appear in the armour, and the pale blue skin was starting to show through. Taking heart from this Barristan picked up the speed of his assault and managed to land a few cuts and nicks on the Other's skin, causing the thing to let out a gut-renching howl. Though not all went according to plan for Barristan, the Other still managed to land a few of its own hits on his armour and skin, Barristan was truly beginning to feel tired and weighed down by the armour and blood that was beginning to leave his body.

He continued to fight however, he couldn't fail his King and Queen in this, most definitely not he had to live so that he could prevent the Ser Mormont from corrupting Danaerys and dividing her and King Aegon, the realm had bled enough. Barristan knew he needed to live so that he could prevent another war from happening, something that would surely happen if Ser Jorah continued to have his way with the Queen and whisper in her ear.

He was brought back to reality by a sharp stinging sensation coming from his stomach, he looked down to see the Other had managed to cut through his armour and into his skin, a trail of blood was now seeping out his armour. Barristan staggered toward the Other and began what he realised would not be his last stand, his last fight. As he heard steel on steel, he put as much of his strength into his sword hits and heard rather than saw the Other's pain and lessening strength, all whilst his vision was becoming darker and darker.

As he went for the final swing, he saw the Other do the same, and as he felt his sword connect and plunge into the Other's stomach, he felt the Other's sword strike his arm. As the Other fell down and began to steam and dissolve, Ser Barristan felt his world spinning, felt himself go weak at the knees, smelt the blood coming off of him, felt the snow on the ground as his head hit it, and then Ser Barristan Selmy, The Bold, Lord Commander of King Aegon VI's Kingsguard felt no more.


	24. Other

**Beyond the Wall**

_Fire and Blood, Fire and Blood, Fire and Blood. The Dragon has three heads. Men praying to false gods. Women and children crying as shadows killed their fathers, brothers, husbands. _

_Darkness, a never ending darkness, only interrupted by more bloodshed and chaos. Winter had come for Westeros once, not the small winters of years gone by but a true and terrifying winter, the likes of which had never been seen again, but would be if the creatures of the dark had their way._

_But the creatures had failed the first time. There had been a pact, between the children and men, a pact that had ultimately allowed the Last Hero to destroy the creatures._

_But where the Last Hero had succeeded he had also failed. For the creatures survived in two beings, a little boy and girl. Twins, from the Lands where the sun had not shown for millennia._

_These two things bred and brooded and bided their time, years turned into decades turned into centuries turned into millennia, then finally when the stag took the dragon's place deep in the south they began to plot and move._

_The twins children had grown big and strong during the intervening millennia. Ten there had been in the beginning and ten there were now. The only difference was that this time there was no fire brethren to hinder them, there was no woman no sword, for the sword that had defeated them the first time had been lost or broken during the final fight the last time around. _

_This time they would succeed, they would have to succeed. _

_Ten there was, and ten there are now but with one change, they hold the keys to the kingdom this time. However, part of their plan relied on the one other who had survived the onslaught awakening, but he had not awoken for many a millennia now, not even when they had gotten the horn and blown it._

_But then when the fire came again, they all felt him stir, their leader their saviour._

Deep beyond the Wall, the watcher woke from his dream, sweating and scared. He's coming, the watcher thought, the thing that can't cross or the whole of Westeros is doomed.

The Watcher looked at the three eyed crow, and said "Send them the sword."


	25. Dark Wings Dark Words

**The Citadel, Oldtown**

After weeks of research and hurrying around the vast swathes of library space in the Citadel's Grand Library, Sam had finally found what he'd been looking for : Archmaester Serwyn Stark's Mysteries of the Ethereal. This was the book that Sam had heard rumours about since the raven had arrived from the Wall stating that the Wall had fallen. This was the book written by one of the most revered maester's of all, this was the book that if Sam was not mistaken was the book that he'd spent the past year and a half looking for, this was what they'd needed at Castle Black when the Other's had first emerged. Sam only hoped he wasn't too late in finding this book and that he would be able to write down all of his findings and send them off to Jon, whom Sam still couldn't believe was alive after having being burnt!

Sam opened the rather slim looking book, and began to read:

**_To Whom it may concern,_**

**_What you hold in your hands now is a tome that many have now ridiculed and are saying that my findings are preposterous and that I have finally become senile in my old age. However, I trust that the fact that you are reading this suggests that this is not the case and that House Stark's words have come true and Winter – The True and Foretold Winter- is finally come. These pages contain the details, as much of the details at least, of the legendary Long Night that I have been able to find across Westeros._**

**_Enjoy_**

**_Archmaester Serwyn Stark, The Citadel 7 A.L._**

Sam turned the page and began reading about the creatures that were plaguing the wall:

**No one is exactly sure where they come from, but it is known that the Others did live in the Land's of Always Winter. Originally there were ten of them, and they controlled a terrifying army of wights, mammoths and giants. Their leader is known as the Great Other, but in truth whilst the Others may not be human, this Great Other does seem to have at least been human at one point, as seen by the fact that during the legendary Long Night the Great Other managed to have two young children, twins in fact. Of course the Others marched from their abode in the Lands of Always Winter down to where the Wall now stands and fought the combined forces of the Children of the Forest and the First Men, the battle fought was a bloody one, and it seemed as if darkness would triumph over the light. Until one day it was discovered that dragonglass, valyrian steel and fire could kill the Others and their undead minions. This knowledge gave the Children and the First Men great hope and so it was that they battled on, winning some victories and losing some battles, but still the war continued for whilst the wights, the Giants and the Mammoths died, so too did the Children and the First Men. But the Others continued to live all ten of them, until one day the famed 'Last Hero' emerged from his home carrying a blade now known as 'Lightbringer' this hero has taken many names over the years, in eastern folklore he is now known as Azor Azahi, he obtained Lightbringer after forging a sword and plunging it into the heart of his wife Nissa Nissa. The Last Hero along with the help of Brandon the Builder fought a lengthy battle with the Others eventually killing them until there were just two of them left. These two then killed the leader of the Children and were about to kill Azor and Brandon, when Azor's dragon burnt the two creatures too smithereens. But all was not done, a madness gripped Azor Azahi and he turned on his companion and fought him, for just as there was a Great Other of Ice, so too must there be a Great Other of Fire. Brandon eventually managed to kill Azor Azahi and in an act of remembrance of his fallen friend created the Night's Watch and raised the Wall for him. However, no one truly knows what happened to the two twins that were created by the Great Other whether they too had perished during the Long Night or whether or not they had survived. That was the main reason why the rangings that the Night's Watch now carry out were started, to find these twins if they still existed and kill them before they could ever create another threat to the light. The Rangings however, turned out to be fruitless nothing was discovered and soon the focus turned from finding these twins to preventing the Wildlings from crossing the Wall. Of course now with the Aegon's Conquest, I fear that we could be facing another similar battle, if not now then in a few hundred years time, especially with the Targaryen practice of incest and the Doom of Valryia. An Other of Ice will soon rise to challenge the light. And only the Prince of Ice and Fire can prevent the chaos that will soon return to Westeros.**

Sam stopped reading and felt something in his stomach drop. A battle between Ice and Fire? The King and Queen were Targaryen, and rumoured to have dragons, Jon had been reborn from fire, could this mean more trouble? Sam had to warn Jon but how he could do that without raising any alarm would be very difficult, but he had to do it somehow!


	26. Today Is Not The Day We Die

**Castle Black**

As Jon Whitewolf watched the fire of the funeral pyres turn the bodies into ash, he couldn't help think about a time when there had been no war, no others a time when it had just been him and his siblings in Winterfell.

That time was long gone now. Though there were the beginnings of hope being planted in him, and as he looked around him, in the other men as well. They had managed to successfully capture an Other, and had managed to (through getting the dragons to roast its heels) get it to speak. The sound of its voice was like nothing Jon had ever heard, it sounded all raspy and broken, but the words it spoke were terrifying.

The creature spoke of the end of days, and how despite their numbers slimming, the true threat, their leader was yet to come and when he did then the Long Night would truly begin. The creature had been about to say something about an Other of Fire, when Melisandre had quickly silenced it with a single touch of her hand. Jon and Dareon and all the other lords present had been furious with her for that action. Since the Targaryens had arrived Jon noticed how Melisandre had been acting very strangely and very differently to how she had acted before they had come, and especially when Stannis had still been around. She spent a lot of time with Queen Danaerys, and seemed to be whispering things in her ear, that caused the King and the Queen to argue almost constantly.

Jon's thoughts on what the Other had said before lighting the fire had been worsened by a letter that had been sent from Sam, which explained the Others and what their purpose was. The thought that there were only ten Others did make sense, they had managed to kill eight of them in the last year and a half. But this news that there was a Great Other and that there were twins abreast was very worrying, also this news about there being an Other of Fire was also deeply disturbing for Jon.

At that thought he looked up and looked at both King Aegon and Queen Danaerys trying to gauge which one of the two could be the "Other of Fire", but he was having no luck. They both had dragons, they both were Targaryens, heck they shared a lot of the same traits Jon did, except of course Jon had Ghost and they didn't actually know that he was related to them.

As Jon turned his head back to the flames, he also thought about the men that they had lost in their most recent fights with the Others, whilst they had managed to kill three of their leaders during the most recent conflict, they had also lost a great deal of men, Sansa's good-father and good- brother included.

Jon shook his head _It does no good to dwell on the dead now, hopefully we can stop this invasion before they go further south._

Jon had already received word from the Shadow Tower that, a collection of about 1000 wights along with the one remaining Other had broken through and were marching south, so of course Lord Umber, his uncles and 2000 men plus all their dragonsteel had marched south to cut them off before they reached Last Hearth. As of yet they had received no word as to whether or not they had been successful.

Jon had also received no word from Cotter Pyke at Eastwatch as to what the situation was there. Jon prayed that no Others had infiltrated there, it didn't seem likely considering that the main host along with eight others had come and attacked directly at Castle Black. Of course all this talk of a Great Other did greatly worry Jon, Tormund and Val had returned from a ranging beyond the wall after the last Other attack to report stretches and stretches of barren wasteland, and a cold so harsh it could only signal one thing, the thing was coming and with it would be millions of undead things that they may not be able to repel.

Jon's ears perked up when he heard the horn blow, they hadn't sent a ranging out in weeks so that couldn't be it, the horn blew again, there were no wildlings left north of the wall they were either guarding the wall or dead, the horn blew once more and Jon's heart sank. They were back the fighting was resumed.

Jon made to pull Longclaw out of his scabbard but his hand was stopped when he heard a fourth horn blast, there was nothing about a fourth horn blast was there? What did that mean? But then when the horn blew for a fifth time, Jon felt a chill in his bones and an almost inhumane sense of fear, he didn't know how he knew what that fifth horn blast was, but he knew it meant serious trouble.

The final battle had begun.


	27. The King Eats and The Hand Shits

**Kings Landing**

It was cold, so very cold. But the topics of conversation during the small council meeting where doing nothing to truly warm Tyrion Lannister up. In fact all they were serving to do was to send him to sleep, he found that he had to keep pinching his arm to stop his head from hitting the table with a resounding thunk.

_Not much has changed then_, Tyrion thought _Different King no debts but still the meetings are rather tedious. Rather less court intrigue but still monotonus things to worry about._

Since King Aegon had taken Kings Landing and had been crowned, all the debts the Iron Throne had amassed over the past seventeen years had suddenly disappeared. Tyrion had a sneaking suspicion that had something to do with the a rather fat cheesemonger magistrate in Pentos visiting a certain Iron Bank in Bravos. Of course it did help that the Targaryens had been wise enough to order the majority of the gold from Casterly Rock be used to fill the vaults of the Red Keep, something Tyrion suspected was more Queen Margery's doing rather than the King or even Lord Connington.

Of course the news from the wall was rather distressing, the King had written about the constant surge of the creatures known as Others and their army of undead beings, and how the number of men that were dying only seemed to multiply, and whilst the armies up at the wall had managed to kill and defeat a number of the insurgencies these things' forces just seemed to keep coming. In fact the King had written to Queen Margery of her father and brother's death. The news had understandably shaken her to the core, though Tyrion did suspect that she was more shaken by the news of her Brother Loras's death than that of her father's.

Another worrying aspect of this war at the Wall was that the armies up there although seemingly dwindling were still going through casts amount of supplies, and still required more. The problem was the small council was trying to figure out where these extra supplies could come from, everyone was agreed that it was not sensible to try and raise taxes to increase the Iron Throne's spending power and ability to get goods shipped in from Essos that would take too long anyway. So for now the Iron Throne would have to rely on the bountainous supply of the Reach as well as the fear that the presence of dragons put into the common folk of Westeros to provide the armies at the Wall with food and supplies.

Tyrion was shaken out of his thoughts, by Lord Varys's final report of the council session: "My Lords, one final bit of news before we depart. My little birds have told me that Aeron Greyjoy is attempting to brew rebellion in the Iron Islands and get them to rebel against the Iron Throne once more."

At this Tyrion couldn't help snort, the Greyjoys or what was left of them anyway seemed to hold a particular type of madness, as if the two previous Greyjoy rebellions failures were not adequate proof enough that the Ironborn could talk all they wanted about reaping and sowing but when it came to actually holding their conquests they were rather ill-suited to the task. And now one Greyjoy wished to rebel against the Iron Throne, when its current occupant had dragons with which to deal any rebellions with? The fool!

It seemed that the King's Hand Lord Connington shared these thoughts as he said "Let Greyjoy brew all the trouble he wants on those islands, with winter finally here and their stores quickly depleting and their men up at the wall fighting the Others, I highly doubt that Greyjoy will be successful in achieving anymore than a good stab in the back."

Lord Varys it seemed was not completely impressed as he said "And what if Aeron Greyjoy is more than successful in igniting a rebellion my lord? With his grace the King and the dragons and the majority of all the armies in Westeros up at the wall fighting who will protect the realm should the Ironborn mount another attack?"

Tyrion noted however, that Lord Connington had been preparing for this sort of questioning "Well then we send them the head of the last Greyjoy and have done with it."

_Ah yes, the last Greyjoy, fitting that really considering she's a woman._

It seemed to Tyrion that Connington's response had settled the matter once and for all as he got up and said "I trust that is all my Lords? Very well, send a raven to Lord Tyrell at Highgarden and ask him to send whatever food he can spare to the Wall with great haste. Also Grandmaester? Write to the other holdings in the realm and instruct them to do the same, if the King's letter is anything to go by this war should hopefully be over very soon."

And with that Lord Connington swept from the council chamber, quickly followed by Lord Varys and Grandmaester Gormon Tyrell.

_Connington's hiding something, but what could it be?_


	28. The End

This is the final chapter of the story, set in May 302 AL, final battle. Let me know what you think :)

* * *

**Castle Black**

Cold, biting cold that's all Dareon could feel, had been able to feel for the past three moons ever since that blasted "Great Other" had launched its assault on the wall. It was the only other left now, the wights that had escaped past the wall had been cut off before they reached Last Hearth by the Greatjon and his men. But this cold was horrible, and Dareon could tell that they needed to find a solution to the problem the Great Other posed before they were all completely way laid into the dust.

Stannis Baratheon's red witch had been completely destroyed when she had foolhardily cast her "shadow child" at the Great Other, the thing had simply swatted the shadow away and then by force somehow managed to have the witch in its hands as it crushed her to a pulp. All that was left of her at the end was bone.

It was slightly worrying that the only dragon that seemed to have damaging effect on this Great Other was Jon's dragon Rhaegal, of course Aegon and Danaerys were still concerned and puzzled about how the dragon had managed to bend to Jon's will. Both Jon and Dareon had agreed to keep this secret between themselves, Lord Howland had unfortunately passed into the ether a few months after he had revealed the truth of Jon's parentage.

Dareon's thoughts were stopped by the sight of an approaching wight, which he managed to cut down with his sword Oathkeeper. Now that he thought about it the Great Other only seemed to be truly concerned with dealing with Jon, any attempts by anyone else to fight it were met with a swipe of its wrist which either led to the unfortunate person's death or them being left severly wounded, as had happened to King Aegon.

Again Dareon's thoughts were interrupted by a score of wights that seemed to be making their way towards him. He met their challenge, with a deft swipe of Oathkeeper which took out three of them. They continued to approach him however, and as he walked backwards all the while swiping his sword and seeing wights fall only to be replaced by more wights, Dareon began to think that perhaps this could be the day he died.

However, it appeared that this thought was misplaced as after he managed to fell the next wight that came his way no more did. But a harsh and high pitched cry to his left, found him face to face with the legendary twins who were responsible for the continued existence of the others. Dareon thought they looked rather less frightening than the legends had portrayed them to be, one looked no older than Bran had, with a protruding jaw line and long auburn hair, the other was much taller and much more muscular. Both drew their weapons once they realised who Dareon was and silent as a wolf stalking its prey, they pounced.

Dareon was just about able to raise his blade in time to prevent the smaller twin's sword striking his armour, but just as he managed to push that twin's sword away, the other's sword came whirling down and struck him on his back, sending him stumbling forward. This relentless two pronged attack continued for what seemed ages, Dareon would block one of their swords only to feel the other knocking the wind out of him.

**They're trying to tire me out** Dareon thought.

Their ploy seemed to be working for Dareon felt his strength weakening, he felt the blood coming out of his back, felt the pure agony that was lifting his sword and shield up to parry yet another blow from one of the twins' swords.

And then suddenly Dareon found a gap, a slight breach in their defences, one of the twins had a limp right hand, its shield hand. Using this to give him hope Dareon picked up the pace of his attack, ignoring the pain he felt in his right arm, he relentlessly attacked the smaller weaker twin, until finally the twin's right arm snapped off. Finding his chance, Dareon went straight for the twin's throat and dug his sword in just about deep enough to see the blood trickling out of a wound big enough to cause death. The smaller twin fell to its knees and collapsed dead.

Leaving the bigger, more muscular and certainly much more skilled twin left to deal with. This twin let loose a stream of sword jabs at Dareon's chest and stomach, some of which Dareon managed to block, some of which he didn't. Dareon was certain he was going to die now, he could feel the blood leaving his body, could see it collecting in a pile on the snow in the ground. And yet somehow, he still managed to find the strength to raise his shield arm to block the big twin's sword strike, and managed to push its sword back with enough force that the twin began to stumble. In that moment Dareon found his opening and thrust, (but it felt more like a throw because of the sheer pain in his right arm) his sword straight into the Twin's exposed chest and felt his sword breach armour, felt it rip a whole into the creature's chest, and when he pulled his sword out and saw blood on it, he knew that the twins were both dead.

But then the world started spinning, and Dareon felt his knees give way, and before he could so much as call out for help his head hit the snow and black was all he saw.

* * *

Blood on the snow, the screams of men and fire, fire was the most dominating aspect of all. Aegon saw the fire and knew something was deeply wrong. For that was no man made fire, that was Dragon's fire.

He urged Viserion toward the scene of the fire, and found much to his horror his aunt Danaerys mounted on Drogon's back as he breathed fire onto their troops, not the wights.

"Danaerys, what in the gods name are you doing! Those are our men!" he shouted.

His aunt didn't deign to reply instead she simply turned to face him, and Aegon noted with much shock that her eyes were no longer violet like his, instead they were red, red as the blood that stained the snow around them.

**Oh shit, she's become that thing, worse than the Great Other, she's the thing that that legend spoke of.**

Aegon knew know what his aunt had become, born in the salt and smoke and tears of Dragonstone during the rebellion her death and resurrection had come at the time after her failed attempt to roast the Great Other alive and Ser Jorah's death in an act of retribution.

She was now the Other of Fire, and unless he could stop her they were all doomed.

It seemed she was aware of their current predicament thought for when she spoke, her voice still sounded soft and not as if she were a dead thing. "Dear Nephew, leave this battlefield behind and return to your wife in the south. For if you do I will spare you, my true enemy lies ahead and I mean to claim my prize. You are not it, leave and you shall live."

"I can't do that, you'd just continue burning people. These are our people Dany, they put their trust in us, we can't let that great huge giant of ice defeat us!"

"Ah dear nephew, if you will not leave at least dance with me."

"Dance with you?" Now Aegon was confused "What do you mean dance with you?"

At this his Aunt Dany simply smiled and said "Why the Dance of Dragons of course."

At that she flew towards him, with Drogon issuing a great torrent of fire towards him as he flew. Aegon and Viserion only just about managed to avoid the torrent of fire. Viserion issued his own torrent in response. But Drogon managed to avoid it. This dance continued for a long time, with both Drogon and Viserion issuing torrents of fire at each other only for them to just graze past the other dragon. But of course whoever got caught in the cross fire burn, and was reduced to ash.

Now the two dragons were grappling with each other, both trying to get a superior hold on the other, though Drogon did seem to be winning although his greater size and weight seemed to tip the balance unfairly to his side. Aegon was shocked to see Danaerys draw Dark Sister from its scabbard, he knew she had very little experience or skill wielding a sword, but he supposed whatever it was that had control over her was now going to aid her. Not wanting her to catch him unawares he drew Blackfyre from his scabbard, and as Drogon and Viserion broke apart only to come together side by side, Danaerys swung her sword toward Aegon's arm, a strike Aegon was able to repel with a block, the swords pulled apart only to be met again this time from a strike from Aegon. They pulled apart again only to be stuck together again. It seemed neither party would be able to cause much harm to the other person whilst on dragon back, but Aegon knew he had to end this and end it now. So he took a huge risk and jumped onto Drogon's back causing Dany to start, but soon they were duelling back and forth standing on a dragon who seemed to want to shake the both of them of his back, but some force was allowing them to stand upright and fight.

Aegon managed to strike first blood, getting a sharp cut onto his aunt's shoulder, but she returned the favour by striking a cut onto his arm. Whilst Danaerys was quick and managed to get a few more cuts onto Aegon's body, he was of a bigger build and managed to quickly overpower her, before he found himself on top of her looking into the eyes of the same girl he had married all those years ago in the Sept at Storm's End. Her eyes were beseeching him to do the deed and to use the blade to lop her head off, but Aegon found himself struggling to do it. But then the cries of the people all around him plus Dany's hand guiding his sword hand up and then down, sealed the deal and as Aegon watched as his Aunt's head was removed from her body a fell to the ground, and as he felt Drogon quickly falling to the sky, he knew the Other of Fire was dead, but he felt empty inside.

* * *

Jon stood face to face with the Great Other with Longclaw drawn, this was it this was the final battle, if he won this battle dawn would come and the Long Night would be over. If he lost, well he wouldn't be alive to suffer the consequences, but Val, Dareon and everyone else he cared about who lived would, and that was something Jon couldn't let happen, this had to end now.

The Great Other had already killed Rhaegal, had killed him with a simple sweep of its hands, but somehow Jon had survived. It mattered not now, for as Jon saw the Great Other advance forward, he saw that it wielded a very large greatsword that had runes of the First Men, the letters of the Andals and the songs of the Children written on it.

All other thoughts were wiped from Jon's mind when the creature took its first swing and the force of blow on Longclaw, caused Jon to wince with pain. He returned the favour but instead of striking sword, struck skin, and saw the creature grimace in pain.

He quickly felt pain of his own as the creature soon began opening gashes and cuts all across Jon's skin, though Jon managed to return the favour he could tell that he was beginning to weaken. Yet still felt the strength to carry on, parrying blow after the blow with the creature until they both seemed out of breath, and then Jon found a chink in the creature's armour between its arm and chest where a slim hole was visible, making his decision, Jon thrust his sword toward that gap catching the creature unawares, and when he felt Longclaw connect with that gap of skin, he felt the Great Other give a cry of pain, that soon turned into one of complete anguish, as Jon saw with his own eyes as the creature began to dissolve and white blood began to fall to the ground. He pulled his sword out of the creature and found it covered with white and blue blood and when he had finished looking at the sword and looked to where the Great Other had been, found nothing except a crown of bones.

The Great Other was dead for good this time, it was over they had won.


End file.
